Countywide : 4 Teachers Win Special Recognition

In the 27 years that Irene Patrick has been a teacher, schools, curriculum and society have changed. But one aspect of her job has remained the same: the students.

The kindergartners who walk through her door every September are still “flowers waiting to bloom,” and Patrick still sees herself as their first gardener.

“I’m the first person they meet on their road to being educated,” said Patrick, who teaches at John O. Tynes Elementary School in Placentia.

Last week, Patrick was named an Orange County Teacher of the Year by the County Department of Education. She was one of four teachers chosen as exemplary.

Patrick was nominated by her principal, Beth Berndt.

Berndt praised Patrick’s efforts to integrate the school’s special-education students into her classroom and cited her participation on a committee developing guidelines for other teachers based on her experiences.

Another winner was Christena Brown, a special-education teacher at Otto Fisher School in Orange. She was nominated by several of her colleagues for her ability to teach students to read.

“Many of my (seventh- through 12th-grade) students come to me unable to read,” said Cindy Smith, a teacher at Fisher. “I send them to Christena and within a month, they are reading. She is so talented and dedicated.”

Smith said Brown is a tireless advocate for her students.

“Whenever these kids are in need, she is there for them. She fights to get them glasses, whatever they need,” Smith said.

Another winner was teacher Vicki Newman, who had already been singled out for her excellence as a math teacher.

Newman, who teaches at McGaugh Elementary in Seal Beach, was one of 100 teachers nationally who received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Elementary Math Teaching in 1991.

Being named Teacher of the Year recognized her other abilities, said her principal, John Blaydes.

“Miss Newman is kind of a renaissance teacher,” Blaydes said.

Blaydes said Newman has started several programs, such as having students write math journals, and has integrated language arts and math curricula.

Cheryl Ann Park also won. Since she can’t take her Century High science students to the forest, she brings the forest to their Santa Ana school.

To show her class how scientists count species of plants and animals, she covered the walls in her room with pictures of trees and bushes, rodents and birds and brought in about 50 live trees.

“The students saw how difficult it is to do an accurate population study,” Park said. “I couldn’t really teach that out of a book.”

Each of the teachers received a $15,000 award and is eligible for the California Teacher of the Year award.