eSchool Media is pleased to announce the return of the School News K-12 Hero Awards, and nomination time will begin June 27, 2022.
This year’s K-12 Hero Awards program, sponsored by JAR Systems and SAP Concur, will recognize the dedicated efforts of education professionals across the K-12 category, including IT, curriculum, instruction and administration. The nomination period runs from June 27 – September 1, 2022.
The nominations will be judged by a panel of education experts including Laura Assion, Editor-in-Chief of School News, Kevin Hogan, School News Editor-at-Large and Eileen Ballstock, CETL, Ballstock Consulting. The three winners will be announced at eSchoolNews.com in early October.
“The great education beta test brought by the epidemic has led to discovery and innovation across education – closing distance learning and the digital divide, tackling the need for diversity, equality and inclusion in schools, and more,” Hogan said. “I encourage everyone to participate in this year’s Hero Awards.” So that your real-life challenges and successes can be celebrated and shared with the education community. “
In the coming weeks, Hero Award nominations will be highlighted at eSchoolNews.com. The winners will appear on the site and in school news podcasts throughout the autumn of 2022, on Hogan’s educational innovations. A custom K-12 Hero Awards ebook will also be published at the end of the program for the winners and all program finalists, which will be available for download.
Last year’s winners were the three nominees who stood among the many inspirational nominations that came flooding in:
- San Diego Unified School DistrictNominated by Trucks: SDUSD’s instructional technology division was nicknamed “First Responsive” because of its proactive approach to COVID-19. From showing teachers how innovative technology can help improve learning outcomes to increasing workshops designed to prepare educators for online teaching, this small but powerful team of six has made an impact at an unprecedented time.
- Breward Public SchoolNominated by PDQ.com: In the midst of the epidemic, one evening in October 2020, Florida’s Breward Public Schools began to feel the onset of a ransomware attack. IT director Barrett Puskas immediately called his team into action, waking up many of them so they could shut down the entire district system. After identifying that the attack was enabled by phishing, Puskas worked with 74,000 students and about 10,000 staff across the district to tighten security protocols and prevent other incidents.
- Navajo Preparatory SchoolNominated by Kajit: When Covid-19 forced the NPS to close its doors in March 2020, the entire technology department moved quickly to ensure continuity of learning in a virtual environment. This has proven to be particularly challenging as its student population covers the entire Navajo reservation, including some rural areas in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. As students travel home to spread Wi-Fi hotspots, teachers quickly become aware of the challenges students face. To support students, NPS will use school buses equipped with Wi-Fi on a weekly route to provide one-week worth of dry food as well as industrial supplies, books, laptops and other educational materials.
Laura is the Editor-in-Chief of Asion School Media. He is a graduate of the prestigious Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
