Kadima Academy Teacher Wins Award

An assembly of fourth- through eighth-graders, their teachers and school staff of Kadima Hebrew Academy held particular significance for one teacher Monday.

After speeches from the Milken Family Foundation representatives about the importance of education and honoring those who give their time to learning, teacher Mari Siegel was surprised with a $10,000 award for her work.

Siegel, who is in her 19th year at Kadima, was one of five Southern California educators honored with the 1997 Milken Family Foundation Jewish Educator Award.

“She was speechless, literally,” said George Lebovitz, headmaster of the academy, of Siegel at the moment the announcement was made.

Siegel was unable to put into words what she felt at the time, but said later that she accepted the honor for the entire school, especially her fellow teachers.

“You don’t work in a vacuum here,” she said in a phone interview. “We’re a close-knit school and we have a great support system in the principal and assistant principals. And I have never asked anything of another teacher that has been denied.”

Lebovitz, who nominated Siegel for the award, said the honor was well-deserved.

“First and foremost, she’s a phenomenally wonderful human being,” he said. “She expects kids to extend themselves to reach higher, and will not let them get by with just what they can do easily.

“But she does it with love, so each child knows she cares for them,” he added.

Foundation officials said the teachers were chosen by educators and leaders from the Jewish community, who evaluate candidates by achievements in the classroom, as well as involvement in the community.

Siegel, a fifth-grade teacher who also teaches history and math in the school’s middle grades, said she has no plans for the money, which she can use as she wants.

But she told her students that the recognition is what makes the award special.

“When you work in an environment like this, the children give you much more than you give them,” she said, clutching a handful of congratulatory notes given to her by former students.