Superintendent's Leadership Award

Mike Lefner is the PE teacher at Hector P. Garcia Elementary School and is in his 36th year of service to Temple ISD. He is a 1985 graduate of Temple High School and served as Head Athletic Trainer for Temple ISD for 22 years. And while we are extremely grateful for his service in those areas, tonight we are recognizing Coach Lefner for everything else that he does for the students of Temple ISD.

 

Coach Lefner serves as the official photographer for the Temple ISD Athletic Department, and he also maintains the athletic department website. He spends countless hours of his free time attending athletic events, both at home and on the road, capturing action photos of TISD Athletic events and consistently adding fresh content to the athletic department website. He takes photos of every sport, every team, at every level. Not just of the high school varsity, but of the middle school A and B teams, Freshmen, and Junior Varsity athletes, too. He also takes the time to get photos of those who support those athletes and might not otherwise get the recognition they deserve for their hard work and dedication. Thanks to his commitment, the Temple ISD athletic website has garnered statewide and national recognition for its exceptional content and fan engagement, consistently receiving over 200,000 page views each month.

 

The students of Temple ISD and their families benefit from Coach Lefner’s work because they can relieve the memories of competition for years to come, even if those families were not able to attend the games he photographs. His dedication to the students of Temple ISD and their families is unsurpassed and we cannot thank him enough for his hard work and commitment.

 

For this and so much more, we are honored to present Mike Lefner – with the Superintendent’s Leadership Award.

Mkayla Jones is a seventh grader at Bonham Middle School and is in the deaf education program there. Earlier this school year, Mkayla decided that she wanted to start an American Sign Language Club on campus. Once she got the approval, Mkayla jumped right in and began coming up with ideas and topics to cover during meetings. She has worked with deaf education teacher Kathryn Donahue to plan meetings and create presentation slides, and Mkayla leads every meeting.

 

Mkayla started the club with an idea to teach fellow students basic sign language and vocabulary and also help them learn more about deaf culture. Those ideas quickly grew into more expansive vocabulary like feelings, weather, and holiday words. And just like Mkayla’s ideas, the ASL Club itself has rapidly grown throughout the year. The club more than doubled in size in its first month of existence, forcing a move to a larger meeting space.

 

Mkayla’s leadership has helped make Bonham a more inclusive environment and she has impacted so many students through the ASL Club.

 

For this and so much more, we are honored to present Mkayla Jones – with the Superintendent’s Leadership Award.

We first came to know Isabella last spring when we saw her signing in the hallway.  Since Thornton is the home for the Regional Day School for the deaf this in and of itself was not an unusual sight.  But when we learned that Isabella was not hearing impaired and that she had learned sign language on her own in order to communicate with her hearing impaired mother and aunt, that is when we realized how truly inspiring she is.

 

She has become a vital communicator as she interprets for her mother and aunt with the public. From volunteering with her mom in the church nursery so that she can interpret the children’s needs to teaching her younger cousin how to sign so that she can communicate with her own hearing impaired mother, it is clear that Isabella is not your average fifth grader.

Matt has been a soccer coach and a teacher at THS for 19 years.  While he excels both in the classroom and on the field, his time spent above and beyond those roles is what sets him apart.

 

Matt and his students have taken on the task of operating the videoboard system at THS this year.  They produce content, provide video footage and program the graphics that we all enjoy so much on Friday nights and even on Thursdays sometimes for JV events.  In addition, his players walk the stands and clean up trash in the stadium after each Thursday and Friday night home game.  You probably also see Matt at just about every THS event where he can be found taking pictures for the annual school yearbook.

Aniyah Smith was a sophomore at Temple High School when she hosted a Back to School Bash at Miller Park in August. With the assistance of Helping Hands Ministry and some generous donors, she was able to provide food, shoes, clothes, back packs and prizes to fellow students so that they could be prepared for the new school year.

 

Aniyah heard of a need and was inspired to make a difference. She took the initiative to take the next step and do something to fill that need. She is already planning the next edition of her Back to School Bash.

Jose Zacarias recovered 3 credits this summer. He rode his bike from North Temple, got to school and worked tirelessly on his coursework, went to work from 4-11 PM and rode his bike home. He would not let his mother drive him to school because he had to go to work and did not want her to have to pick him up so late. His mother states that he saves every penny so he can buy a car. His perseverance has him caught up in school and no doubt ready to tackle his Junior year of high school.

Jalyah Collins was surprised on the course with the Superintendent’s Leadership award for breaking barriers. She is the first African-American female golfer to ever advance to Regionals in the 6A classification, and has only been playing golf for two years. We are so proud of you for making history in Temple, TX, Jalyah!

February 12 – 19, 2021 has been dubbed by some as “Snowmagedon”, “SNOVID”, “Snowpocalypse” and many other names that attempt to describe that fateful week.  Extended power outages coupled with unprecedented temperatures, snow and ice created a situation that made homes unlivable for some in our community.  The opening of warming shelters across our area provided much hope but with the roadways undriveable how would people get there?

 

Sacrificing their own safety, that is when these individuals literally came to the rescue.  Working with the City, our transportation department picked up people in need across the city and brought them to warming centers where they could safely wait out the winter storm. 

 

From the elderly to the medically fragile to some furry friends and everyone in between, these men and women provided hope for the hopeless in their most desperate hour.  And if you know these individuals you know that they even provided some much needed cheer, compassion and kindness along the way.

It has been eight months since we welcomed students and staff back into our buildings mid-pandemic.  During this time, Temple ISD has not had to close a single campus or facility due to COVID spread inside our walls.  This can and should be largely credited to Amy Hayes, Director of Wellness and Benefits, Kim Glawe, Director of Health Services, and our school nurses.

 

Amy and Kim have been at the helm of case reporting and monitoring and have worked with Senior Leadership Team and outside agencies like the Bell County Health District and Baylor Scott and White Health

throughout the pandemic.  They have worked around the clock and through weekends and holidays without hesitation or reservation.

 

Our nurses have served in a very similar capacity at each of their campuses as they were designated as the COVID-19 contact on their respective campuses who have supported staff, students and families with questions and concerns—easing their fears every step along the way.  They have volunteered to help administer vaccines across the county and to assist in medical facilities that were inundated with patients early on in this pandemic.

 

Perhaps the best example to illustrate the commitment of this collective group standing before us is the vaccine clinic they organized and executed in less than 24 hours during the severe winter storm resulting in the vaccination of 300+ Temple ISD staff members. 

 

These ladies know no bounds and deserve more thanks than we could even begin to muster. 

Planning for the needs of our students is innate to what we do as educators.  However, planning in the middle of a pandemic is not something that we have experience with.  However, we are fortunate to have experts in our community that do have this expertise like Dr. Midturi an infectious disease specialist at Baylor Scott & White. 

 

Early on in this pandemic Dr. Midturi offer his assistance and support in our planning efforts especially with graduation.  He has been an incredible source of knowledge and insight as we have navigated our new normal.  Dr. Miduri has given countless hours to review district protocols and procedures providing feedback and suggestions for how we can best implement health and safety measures.

When the district announced on March 13, that we would be extending Spring Break due to concerns over COVID-19, one of the first phone calls we received was from Jacob Bates who owns Bird Creek Burger Co. with his wife Carleigh.

 

Jacob wanted to know what he could do to support the district during this time. He knew that we were planning to start providing student meals that Monday so he offered to support the school nutrition staff who were going above and beyond to make sure our kids were being fed. That next week, Jacob and Bird Creek Burger Co. provided free meals to the Temple ISD school nutrition and custodial staff.

Sam Maxon is a Freshman at Temple HS and has already earned a spot on the Varsity Wrestling team.  He has demonstrated exceptional skill and discipline as an athlete but is being honored because he chose to put a fellow competitor’s needs above his own and truly demonstrated what it means to be a Temple Wildcat in the most profound way. 

 

When Coach Clark worked with the opposing coach to set the match, he knew that Sam would approach it as an opportunity to demonstrate respect and leadership but not even he imagined the outcome Sam chose.

 

Sam's extraordinarily selfless act inspired people in ways that even he may not realize.  For his competitor, his family and fellow classmates, Sam encouraged and reminded them that anything truly is possible regardless of circumstances far beyond our control.  For Sam's coach, fellow athletes, and Wildcat fans, he challenged and reminded us that “winning” shouldn’t be defined by numbers on a final scorecard/scoreboard and that “winning” in life is more important than any stats could ever be.

Pastor Harrison retired from Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church and quickly found a new ministry and passion masked behind the role of “Crossing Guard” 27 years ago.

For nearly 3 decades, Pastor Harrison has been welcoming students, families and staff on their way to and from school. He has uttered countless words of blessing and encouragement; and he has showered the campus — his mission field –with abundant prayer.

If you were to look up the definition of “servant leadership”, don’t be surprised if you see a picture of this couple as they exemplify the very definition.  Volunteering their time, talents, and resources to help others is something that is part of who they are and is central to their core beliefs.  From Rebekah’s work with our East side Boy Scout troops, serving on the TEF board, organizing Project Graduation or Danny’s bringing "Stop the Bleed" training to THS, providing free athletic physicals, mentoring of our students who want to pursue the medical field, their selflessness has no bounds. 

Madeleine Ruth Norman is a senior at Temple High School. In the last couple of years, she has become affiliated with the Dressember Foundation which advocates to put an end to human trafficking. The annual Dressember campaign is a 31 day style challenge where people pledge to wear a dress or tie every day in the month of December as a conversation starter to bring awareness to the human trafficking epidemic in our country.

 

Last year Madeleine participated in the Dressember campaign and set a goal to raise $5000 for the Foundation. She organized a kick-off event and quickly surpassed her initial goal. This year, Madeleine saw an opportunity to bring even greater awareness to the cause she has so passionately pursued. She initiated a meeting with campus and district administrators to share about her Dressember campaign and to brainstorm ways that the message could be shared with a larger audience. Madeleine made a presentation to the entire Temple High School staff about human trafficking and the Dressember campaign. She also presented to each of the Middle School staffs. In addition, she collaborated with the THS student council to promote December 5th as a school and district-wide day to participate in the Dressember campaign.

Her passion for and commitment to this cause is extraordinary.

Steve Prentiss.   Steve has served our district as the Assistant Athletic Director for 12 years.  That job description in and of itself is one that requires long hours and countless tasks.  However, it’s the million little things that Steve does above the expectations of the job title that set him apart and makes him truly worthy of this recognition this evening.

 

From setting up the ropes for Century Club parking after the JV games on Thursday nights to opening and closing our athletic facilities at the high school for events to coordinating training for our Physical Education teachers, Steve is constantly on the move ensuring that no detail gets overlooked.  He gives 100% each and every day to support “all things Wildcat,” never expecting anything in return.

Mr. Carl Pleasant who serves our students as the principal of Wheatley Alternative Education Center.   The challenges of Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs or DAEP campuses are very different than those of traditional campuses but there are very few opportunities for collaboration between DAEP campuses. Mr. Pleasant saw this need to bring DAEPs together as an opportunity. 

 

On August 6, TISD hosted the very first regional DAEP conference that brought together administrators and teachers from five area school districts.  The conference designed by Mr. Pleasant provided these specialized campuses to collaborate, network, and learn from each other on how to best support students.  The conference was hugely successful and there are already preliminary plans for future DAEP conferences.