May 2015 Staff Above & Beyond

These staff were nominated for the May Above & Beyond Awards.  Congratulations to the winners of the drawing:  Danielle Smith, Kristen Scott and Shelly Baxter.  Great work, all of you!

Shelly Baxter – Shelly led the 2nd largest group debriefing ever held by the Clermont County Crisis Response Team. Approximately 400 students were present.  Shelly did this because one leader of the CRT was out of town and the other had to be at CFI to conduct end of the employment tasks.  Shelly stepped up without hesitation at the request of her supervisor. She always says “yes” when asked, even to major tasks that are not her responsibility.

Angela Dunham - Angela was new to the Head Start program this year, lost her assistant teacher the last few months of the program and managed to complete all the required work that needed to be done.

Alanna Hochberg - Alanna's work this year has included assistance with several exceptionally high need families.  Her attention to their special needs has gone above and beyond the expectation for her role as bilingual teacher.  In one family, the father is in his fourth year of dialysis, as his kidneys have failed.  The family has no car, so Dad walks two miles to a public bus and rides downtown three days each week for his treatments.  Given his undocumented status, he is not eligible for a transplant and without one he will eventually die.  Alanna has spent time with Mom having difficult discussions about her plans for the future of her family and exploring options.  She was recently able to bring some hope to the family in learning that Illinois is the first state in the nation to include kidney transplants for undocumented residents in their state Medicaid law.  Alanna made connections with medical professionals and social workers in Illinois agencies which might be able to help.  This is still a work in progress but the first glimmer of hope for this family. 

The second family has experienced a number of issues, all complicated by a language barrier and the fact that Mom is illiterate.  The family moved a very short distance and did not understand that they had crossed both a county line and a school district line.  Alanna assisted Mom in transferring all of her county benefits (food stamps, childcare vouchers, etc.) to the new county.  Alanna then assisted Mom in officially requesting that her older child be permitted to remain in school so he would not have to transfer mid-year.  He is struggling in first grade.  Originally the school district had decided to force them to transfer, but Alanna was relentless and a different decision was made.  Additionally, Alanna has assisted in getting the child glasses.  Alanna also advocated for this Mom when a family doctor's office refused to serve her due to her undocumented status.  Most of Alanna's work with this family has been above and beyond.

Alayna Khoury, Cindy Moss, and Kristen Scott - These staff worked to make the change in program options for their classroom during the program year go smoothly for parents and staff.

Becky Lewis - Becky helped with my work while I was on FMLA.

Makinsey McAlister - For taking the initiative to clean the muscle room in both buildings when she wasn't needed in a classroom.

Dianne McGuire - Dianne has been doing double/triple work for weeks, training new staff and keeping a watchful eye on the voucher system.  All of this has been done with smiles and enthusiasm.  Dianne, you have marvelous people skills and are always there to help others, including parents/staff/community reps.  I am so glad you are on our team.

Ruth Shields - Ruth kept up with my work while I was on FMLA.  (Ruth also received another nomination:)  Thanks so much, Ruth, for filling in for another staff member who had surgery.  You did a great job keeping up with all the extra work.  With a smile (most of the time) you jumped right in there to trouble-shoot problems with SHINE.  You are such a great team player and a dedicated staff person.  Thanks again for your hard work.

Danielle Smith - Danielle jumped in and completed all the Bracken's for the 551 building.

Hats Off

Susan Graham – The March crisis response at Milford lasted for 4 days beyond the initial response, which is unusual for CRT.  One of the CRT leaders was out of town and the other was prepping to be out of town and had tasks that needed to be completed so could not be fully present at the response.  Susan took the initiative to be in the onsite leader for the last 4 days of the response.  She seamlessly coordinated assessments of many students who were at risk of harm. This was a major undertaking and took the better part of her week.  Hats Off!