Congratulations to our March Teachers of the Month: Beth O’Reilly, Elizabeth Comella and Kathleen Waltman! Thank you to everyone who nominated teachers this month. Take a look at some of the wonderful things their nominators shared about these outstanding educators in Westerville City Schools and be sure to nominate the amazing teachers in your school! https://www.westervilleeducationfoundation.com/teacher-nomination
Special thank you to Education First Credit Union, who sponsors our special Teacher of the Month program each month. Winners get $100 to use in their classroom fund, they are featured on our website with past winners, and they get the fame and glory this month.
Congratulations to these teachers and thank you to ALL our Westerville City School teachers for all that you do to support our students!
Beth O’Reilly - Wilder Elementary
“It is with great pleasure that I nominate Mrs. O'Reilly for the Teacher of the Month. She teaches my daughter’s third grade class at Wilder Elementary. This school year has been like no other for educators across our district, but through it all I have seen Mrs. O’Reilly shine. Even during the on-again-off-again blended learning environment, she has been an incredible communicator with both parents and students alike. From emails to Remind text messages, her communication has been exceptional. We are never left wondering what is happening or what is upcoming. Mrs. O’Reilly has taken time and effort to build a sense of community with her classroom, even though the class is not physically together. She is an outstanding person whose passion for teaching is evident in the way she makes learning a fun, positive experience. She acknowledges her student’s individuality and purposefully addresses their needs. It is no doubt that teachers like Mrs. O’Reilly help build a foundation for lifelong learning.” - Parent of student
Elizabeth Comella - Huber Ridge Elementary
“She has been one of the best teachers I could ask for my 3rd grader during this hard time. She is in constant contact, and helpful with everything. She helps keeps the students and parents on course so the kids get the best education they can with covid-19 going on. If you message her or email she gets back to you quickly. If a student has any personal issues she is there to listen and to parents too. We were having problems with a program on my son's school assignments, and asked if we could speak after the live was over, and she did. During that time I explained what was going on and she helped us fix it. We then began talking about missing work and I brought up that he had been lying about doing his work. Instead of getting upset she simply explained to him the importance of doing his work and the importance of telling the truth. She explained to him that when he is older he could lose his job and such for doing those things, and that she is trying to help him with his future and in order to do so he has to put the work in. The next day all the kiddos sat in the live and listen to the same response and after that almost all the kids had their work done on time and fully completed. It was nice for a teacher to have my back with this situation. If I could I would have her teach my son in every grade.” -Parent of student
Kathleen Waltman - Hawthorne Elementary
“Mrs. Waltman is an AMAZING teacher! She is teaching 2nd grade in the WVA and has been rolling with the punches from the very beginning. She has always been incredibly quick to respond to any and all emails, assisting in every way possible to help create the best positive learning online environment. She goes above and beyond the expectations - creating many opportunities for students to interact with her as well as each other. And, most importantly, she clearly loves what she does and has the patience to navigate the challenges with online learning environments and 2nd grade student attention spans. I frequently listen in on the meetings that she schedules with the students and I am smiling the whole time and it warms my heart to know that my son has a teacher that is so committed to ensuring each and every student has a positive learning experience. At the beginning of the school year, I had reached out to Mrs. Waltman to discuss my son's math work. I was not able to determine if he was actually understanding the concepts or if he was guessing until he got the answer correctly. Mrs. Waltman immediately responded and offered tutoring sessions with him so that she could assess his understanding. As a result of these tutoring sessions, along with other parent requests, Mrs. Waltman is now offering regular math tutoring sessions to help her students. She also schedules a "Fun Friday" open house for students to come and socialize online - it could be a pajama party, a "show and tell" of your favorite game or toy, or even a holiday party (The winter break holiday party had me laughing the entire time!). She is clearly there to support and care for the students and it is clearly her passion. But, she is also there to support the parents and families, which is an incredible need and relief knowing that she is only a call or email away!” - Parent of student
