Help us to help honor some great teachers
Published 12:00 am Monday, October 6, 2008
I hope many of you have noticed that earlier this month we kicked off our fourth annual L’Observateur “Teacher Appreciation Program.”
This program began the first year I came to LaPlace as publisher, back in 2004. I had spent about 30 years as a newspaper man, always working in sports or news, but never having an opportunity to run the entire paper.
And as I had contemplated being in charge of a paper, any paper, I had given a lot of thought to things I would like to do if I ever got that chance.
Suddenly I was in the River Parishes and in charge of our lovely, little L’Observateur and faced with fulfilling all those dreams I had about how it would be if I ever got a chance to make the decisions for a newspaper.
One of the things I did follow through with in that first year was the “Teacher Appreciation Program,” which is our attempt to do something special for local educators.
I have done many, many stories on teachers over my three-plus decades of writing. Even when I began as a sports editor, I spent a lot of time showing up at the schools and visiting coaches in their classrooms.
For that matter, I kind of had this reputation in those early years of walking into a class where a coach was teaching, and announcing to the class in a kidding sort of way, “OK, find something to do and keep quiet.”
The kids loved it, since they always knew that my appearance meant the coach was going to be tied up for a pretty good while, and they didn’t have to continue whatever they were doing.
But in those times, it was the start of a first-hand connection I had with a lot of teachers at work, seeing what they did and hearing many stories about the challenges they faced, and of course, the salary they received.
When I came to LaPlace I wanted to start a program that did something special for teachers. Sure, we could do little stories in the paper about them, and tell people about some of the special things they had done, but when I really thought about how best to say “thanks” to the teachers, there was one thing I knew could do it better than anything else—MONEY!
So our program not only honors the teachers with their picture and story, but we will also give a check for $250 to each teacher that is honored.
We will publish these special pages announcing this year’s winners in our paper on Wednesday, Oct. 22. But in the meantime, I need more people to send in nominations of teachers.
The nominations can come from anyone…..I mean, anyone. We have gotten the nominations from principals, fellow teachers, students, parents, and simply people in the community who remembered someone special.
But listen folks, I need you to send in nominations. Every year it is the same. We announce the program in the paper, and I’m telling people that we are looking for teachers to give $250 checks to. Yet I always have to do this special column to really bug people about sending me some names. Come on folks, I’m trying to give some special teachers a check here! Don’t you want to try to get that early Christmas present for a special teacher you know?
We have gotten some nominations so far, but not nearly enough. In the past three years of the program we have been able to give at least $3,000 away. This year I would like to do more. But we need nominations of teachers sent in, and we need businesses to support the program in a big way.
I would think every principal of any public or private school in the area would think their teachers are worth spending five minutes to send me a short e-mail about someone they think is very special. Yet the truth is that I have to really push hard on the principals to do this. Thank goodness for some who have already seen what a great opportunity this is, and already sent in nominations.
So if you are a principal and you haven’t made sure that at least one person from your school is nominated, please make sure to do so. And if you are a fellow teacher who knows of someone special, or a parent who has a great teacher for your kid, or if you are a kid who knows of a great teacher, please send me a short e-mail nomination about them.
To do so, you can e-mail me at kchiri@bellsouth.net, and just type me two or three short paragraphs about what makes the teacher so special. Make sure to give me the school they teach at and what grade they teach.
Otherwise, I hope our local businesses really continue to support the program. We give away all the proceeds we take in for selling ads on these special pages, so the more businesses or individuals who buy ad space, the more teachers you are helping to get honored.
If you would like to help support the program, call 652-9545 and ask for someone in our ad department.
Kevin Chiri is Publisher of L’Observateur and can be reached at (985) 652-9545 or at kchiri@bellsouth.net