All were chiefs of quality, Doug Riley is the complete package, he said.
It wasn t a specific event that spurred the nomination, according to Hartzog. Rather, it was his daily observations of the chief s commitment to building better relationships with employees, staff and the community. He’s more apt to ask how child, spouse or husband is doing, than if that task was done, Hartzog said. People are important to him.
The assistant chief said he realized how proud he was to work under Riley when the chief first suggest the department should visually show support for one of their own diagnosed with cancer. Custom T-Shirts recognizing Lakeland firefighter and paramedic Clay Geiger s battle against T-Cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma have become the department s standard Friday uniform since November.
Maude Graham, 40, a third-grade teacher at Rosabelle Blake Academy, was named Teacher of the Year for her incorporation of hands-on reading and writing activities, including scavenger hunts, rope climbing excursions and other out-of-the-box lessons. She also shares her life story with various groups, serves as a mentor, organizes parent/teacher events and spearheads a leadership program for third- through fifth-graders called “Leader in Me.”
Lisa Gill, a paraeducator at Jesse Keen Elementary School in Lakeland, was named School-Related Employee of the Year. She oversees the school s weekend backpack distribution program to make sure students have enough to eat. Following Hurricane Irma, she worked with First United Methodist Church to create a food and supply bank at the school and helped find housing for families whose homes were damaged.
LAKELAND By the time Maude Graham was just 9 years old, she had lost both of her parents and struggled to read. She decided to go into teaching to help students who were like her in school.
“I learned that teachers were progressing me because I was young and fragile, wide-eyed, eager to learn and very obedient,” Graham told Polk County Public School officials. “Knowing this, I always wanted to become the teacher who taught students who struggled as I had. I always dreamt of teaching students reading strategies, no matter the circumstances that stood in their way.”
Now 40 years old, Graham was named the Polk County Public Schools 2021 Teacher of the Year on Thursday night at a scaled-back ceremony at the RP Funding Center.
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The Polk County School District announced its 2021 Teacher of the Year and 2021 School-Related-Employee of the Year at a ceremony. (Polk County Public Schools District )
POLK COUNTY, FL The Polk County School District announced its 2021 Polk County Teacher of the Year and the district s 2021 School-Related-Employee of the Year Thursday night.
Maude Graham, a third-grade teacher at Rosabelle W. Blake Academy, was named 2021 Polk County Teacher of the Year.
Maude Graham, a teacher at Rosabelle W. Blake Academy, was named 2021 Polk County Teacher of the Year. (Polk County School District)
Graham teaches language arts and social studies. She became an orphan at a young age, with both of her parents passing away by the time she was nine. She struggled in school with reading but felt a desire to pursue a career as a teacher.