When Linda Napier and Jim Yates were first selected as the newest Teacher of the Year in the Fairfield City School District, at a meeting of administrators during the summer, we had to stop and think about what to call them.

Teachers of the Year? Co-Teacher of the Year? Co-Teachers of the Year? It is the first time a teaching team, of which there are many in our district, has been selected for this honor. But as we prepared the announcements and other material associated with the award, we just naturally found ourselves calling them – collectively – the Teacher of the Year. It may break grammar rules or logic conventions, but it works. Though both Linda and Jim are obviously outstanding individual teachers, after 17 years of team teaching they work together so well in the classroom and in such a seamless fashion that they don’t even think it about anymore, even though it’s immediately obvious to an observer.

When I announced them as the newest Teacher of the Year, at our annual Opening Day meeting last week, Jim and Linda spoke to our nearly 700 teachers gathered there. One of the first things they said was that the team is actually more than just the two of them. A group of educational assistants and one-on-one aides help them immensely, they said. They include Vicky Wilson, Dawn Smith, Carol Fuller, Melissa Noll, and also Ruth Hagan, who spent thousands of hours supporting them but is working at our Freshman School this year.

To watch that group of professional educators at work in the classroom is a life-affirming experience. Their students face what are challenging mental disabilities, and many have physical disabilities as well. The challenges facing these children can be staggering. Despite all of that, Jim and Linda teach, and their students learn, often far surpassing expectations. The children love their class and love learning…it may be the happiest classroom in our school district.

For the teachers, it is also highly physical work. They lift, swing and spin the children. They use high-fives, backslaps, handshakes, songs, chants, and many other techniques to encourage, reward, and inspire. It may look informal, but each gesture, touch and sound is chosen with knowledge of a child’s specific communication and learning style. And they push the children, never accepting work that is less than they are capable of doing. That, of course, is part of good teaching in any classroom.

Part of what makes this award so special every year is that the nominations come from those people who know their work best…other teachers in the building and administrators who work with them. Former winners of the Teacher of the Year who are still part of our district include Diana Knoth, Lynne Dyer, Colleen Silverberg, Lee Ann Hieber, Alexis Vafides, Cynthia Walker, Kim Nuxhall, Kathy (Peters) Gillespie, Diane Callahan, Joyce Arnold and Teresa Elash.

Jim and Linda have joined a list of educators who are among the most highly respected in our district. They are truly deserving of the honor.

Cathy Milligan
Superintendent
Fairfield City School District

Published in the Fairfield Echo, Sept. 6, 2007