Recognizing excellence in Kyrene is a long-standing tradition that has celebrated educators for eight years. Since the inception of the Kyrene Values Awards, over 800 employees have been honored.

This school year, we asked Team Kyrene to submit peer nominations for the individuals who go above and beyond for our schools, students and staff, rooted in the traits outlined in the Kyrene Key Values: Connection, Collaboration, Compassion, Courage, Curiosity. These shared values define who we are as Kyrene educators and what it takes to meet our responsibilities to students, to each other and to our community. Kyrene Values Educator awardees are recognized quarterly by the Superintendent. Awards will be given out quarterly to 12 recipients who are chosen from the nomination pool by the Kyrene Values Committee. At the end of April, we surprised and celebrated our quarter 4 awardees amongst their students and peers.

Our quarter 4 awardees are:

1. Maureen Sousae, Art Teacher, Kyrene del Cielo
2. Mason Meade, Director, Facilities
3. Leslie Saltz, Bus Driver, Kyrene Transportation
4. Lisa Walton, Teacher of the Hearing Impaired, District Office
5. Sandy Theobald, Support Specialist, Kyrene Traditional Academy
6. Kim Schulz, Instructional Assistant, Kyrene de las Manitas Innovation Academy
7. Brenda Bravo Zarate, Speech Language Pathologist, Kyrene de la Mariposa Computer Science Academy
8. Michele Ferber, Resource Teacher, Kyrene de la Mirada Leadership Academy
9. Kelsey Stuart, 4th Grade Gifted Self-Contained Teacher, Kyrene Monte Vista
10. Gabby Rios, 3rd Grade Teacher, Kyrene de los Niños
11. Melissa Walton, Support Specialist, Kyrene del Norte Dual Language Academy
12. Gisela Briscoe, Resource IA, Kyrene de la Sierra

Congratulations to our awardees and to all the individuals who were nominated!

Thank you to our sponsor, CORE Construction for providing each awardee with a $100 Amazon gift card.