Oak View teacher honored as Certificated Employee of the Year
Oak Valley Education Center Principal, Sam Spencer, left, and school board member, Chuck Christie, presented Cathy Hertel with a certificate honoring her as the Oak Valley Education Center's Certificated Employee of the Year, Tuesday, during a school board meeting.
YUCAIPA - When Oak View Education Center opened 5 1/2 years ago, Cathy Hertel was one of the first teachers to walk through its front door. And she has never stopped.
"In 5 1/2 years in the district she has never missed a day," said Oak View Principal, Sam Spencer, who honored Hertel as Oak View's "Certificated Employee of the Year" during a Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District school board meeting, Tuesday night. The board officially presented her with a certificate for her achievement.
Hertel began teaching Independent Studies after coming to the district from Kansas in 2003. "I don't think the district realized what a jewel we were getting," Spencer said. "She is one of only two National Board Certified teachers that the district employs."
Her accomplishments are many according to a report that Spencer read during the board meeting. She was named "Educator of the Year," in western Kansas; she has received volunteer awards from the United Way, and at Oak View, she is the head site representative with YCEA. Along with that, Hertel has been a past delegate to Democratic Conventions.
"I have a list of awards and honors that are two pages in length, single spaced," Spencer said.
When Hertel came to Oak View she was one of only two Independent Study program teachers. Spencer said that Hertel has been invaluable to the program. "She has been instrumental in making this a quality program where students are waiting to get in," he said. "Cathy has not raised the bar for our Independent Studies program, she is the bar."
Many of Hertel's students have only 20 to 80 credits as a senior. She works with them by giving them practice GED tests, and after grading them, focuses on areas where they need the most help, Spencer said.
"She is instrumental in helping them make a connection to the school so they do not drop out," Spencer said. "If you happen to visit Oak View, you will recognize her immediately because she is the one who is always smiling. Cathy is not only a certificated employee of the year at Oak View, she is an employee of the year every year."
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