By Adam Swift
Four educators and one school were given special recognition during last week’s school committee meeting.
The four educators were given Name, Strength, and Story awards by superintendent of schools Dr. Almi Abeyta.
“This was created to really call out and shout out our amazing educators who are really answering the call of knowing our students by name, strength, and story,” said Abeyta.
Abeyta praised Chelsea High School teacher Miguel Hernando for his sense of urgency and concern for his students and speaking up for them when they are in need.
One of Chelsea High counselor Carlos Cora’s colleagues wrote to Abeyta to praise Cora for his efforts to help a student who was having difficulty getting to class.
“Mr. Cora lives across the street from the student who was not coming to school this year,” Abeyta said. “Mr. Cora has begun meeting the student in the morning and going to get something to eat and walking to school together. It was so nice to hear of a colleague going above and beyond to help out one of our students.”
A former Berkowitz School student wrote in to praise math teacher Samuel Vega after seeing Vega on a morning news program.
“I hope you could convey to him how grateful I am to have had him as my teacher,” wrote Christian DeJesus Franco. “Mr. Vega taught me so much and he is one of those teachers who will always stand out in my memory. Despite being a special education student, Mr. Vega always treated us with equality, just like other students.”
As a result of the efforts of teachers like Vega, DeJesus Franco said he’s now a supervisor at Eastern Bank as well as a member of the planning board.
Abeyta recognized Chelsea Virtual Learning Academy Principal Meg Maccini for going above and beyond when it comes to helping students past and present.
“She makes sure students not only go to college, but that they succeed and finish, and I am so grateful for all that (she) does,” said Abeyta.
Abeyta also recognized the Berkowitz School for being deemed a school of recognition by the state’s department of elementary and secondary education. She noted that the school’s English scores increased by 7 percent and its math scores increased by 23 percent in math over the past year.
“We know it starts at the top with leadership, but we also know that it’s a whole team, it’s everyone at the Berkowitz working together,” said Abeyta. “I am so proud of the work the Berkowitz as an entire school is doing.”