UFEA President Vickie Mahrt shared the following during the public comments section of the Unit 5 Board Meeting on December 8, 2010:
Last month, UFEA members celebrated American Education Week with our traditional invitation to public officials to spend time with us in our classrooms. Teachers provide lesson plans and supports so that these community leaders can actually do some teaching, and get a taste of what it is like to work and learn in Unit 5.
This event gives us the opportunity to showcase our Unit Five public schools, along with our great students and our outstanding teachers, and we think it gives officials the opportunity to show their support of public education in our community.
This year we hosted Representative Keith Sommer; McLean County Board Members Don Cavallini, George Gordon, and Paul Segobiano; Bloomington Alderman Jennifer McDade; Normal Town Councilmen Jeff Fritzen and Chuck Scott; Unit 5 Board Members Scott Lay, Mark Pritchett, John Puzauskas; and our own Superintendent, Dr. Niehaus.
We were able to get pictures of several of our participants, and when you look at them, you can tell that they are having a good time. Some of them even wrote us notes to tell us about their experiences, and we got this from Chuck Scott, who spent time with Maureen Thomas’ 2nd grade class at Fairview:
“Believe me, I was impressed. Gary, you have a good group of educators within Unit 5. I am proud of their accomplishments and proud to live within this school district.”
The teachers who hosted these visitors are not unusual in our district. We have hundreds of great teachers in this district, doing what it takes to educate each student to achieve personal excellence.
We aren’t waiting for Superman in Unit 5. Superman, and Superwoman, show up in our 22 school buildings every morning.
Love it!