SBCSS News and Press Releases

County Teachers Of The Year To Be Honored In October

2010-09-22

SAN BERNARDINO - Three San Bernardino County Teachers of the Year will be honored by the San Bernardino County Board of Education at its meeting on Oct. 4.

Honorees include Melissa Coronado, a special education teacher for fifth- and sixth-graders at Carnelian Elementary in Alta Loma for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools; Cristina Maria Swanson Hernandez, who teaches English learners at Ruth Musser Middle School in the Central Elementary School District; and Scott Kennedy, a high school English, journalism and photography teacher at Yucaipa High School in the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District.

"This group of teachers represents the finest of more than 18,000 teachers in San Bernardino County," County Superintendent Gary Thomas said. "They do tremendous work in helping each and every one of their students succeed academically."

The Teacher of the Year reception will take place following the board's meeting at the Roy C Hill Education Center, 601 N. E St. in San Bernardino.

The three teachers were nominated by their individual districts and reviewed by a panel of county administrators who made the final selections. Representing the 18,655 teachers in San Bernardino County, Coronado, Hernandez and Kennedy will compete in the California Teacher of the Year event.

Coronado has been a special education teacher at Carnelian Elementary for the past 10 years. She teaches moderate/severe special education students, most of whom have autism. "It is important to me that I individualize my classroom to fit the needs of all my students," Coronado said. "I believe that all my students can progress and learn new things and that it is up to me to motivate them to want to learn. My class is very busy and very active in our school and thanks to all the wonderful people that I work with, is an amazing learning environment for my students." Principal Mary Horsley said Coronado strives to meet the individual needs of all her students. "She has a great depth of knowledge when it comes to addressing the unique needs of children with autism," Horsley said. "She has had challenging behaviors from her students, yet with grace, integrity and determination, Melissa integrates all components of a multi-disciplinary approach to meet each child's individual needs and to maximize their learning potential."

Hernandez, who has 24 years of experience as a teacher, has spent the last 17 years teaching fifth- to eighth-graders at Ruth Musser. She takes a personal approach to her teaching. "Being a parent has had much to do with refining my personal teaching style. I keep in mind that the children in my classes are loved very much by their parents; my philosophy is to treat them with the same respect and care that I reserve for my own." Principal Dave Soden at Ruth Musser said that the passion Hernandez has for teaching translates into the success her students have in achieving academically. "She is the shining star for these students," he said. "As a classroom teacher, she has always opted to work with our students who are at-risk. She has a talent that allows students to seek success and to understand that with hard work and determination students can be successful."

Kennedy has been a teacher for 13 years, the last decade teaching English, journalism and photography at Yucaipa High School. Kennedy said he brings an "entrepreneurial" spirit to his classroom. "I look for good ideas, inspiring and harvesting, nurturing and trusting. As a teacher, that drive to be open to good ideas pushes me to get to know my students, to encourage them to take their work further." Principal Sherry Smith said that Kennedy's ability to enable his students to think critically has made an impact on their academic success. "He is a very charismatic teacher who loves what he is doing so much that it is obvious to all those around him. Students cannot help but be excited about Scott's subject matter because he too is so excited about what he does," Smith said.

The California Teachers of the Year will be announced in November and will be honored by the State Board of Education. The State Teachers of the Year will be forwarded to the National Teachers of the Year program.

SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union sponsors the event for County Schools.