Employees Recognized for Years of Service
At the PAUSD annual opening of school event for employees—commonly known as the Chowdown—classified, certificated, and management staffs were recognized for their years of service. This event is a nice opportunity for the entire District to applaud the hard work and dedication of the PAUSD staff. This year, we recognized 172 PAUSD employees—77 beginning their 10th year of service, 42 beginning their 15th year, 27 beginning their 20th year, 8 beginning their 25th year, 9 beginning their 30th year, 4 beginning their 35th year, 4 beginning their 40th year, and 1 beginning her 45th year of service. These dedicated employees represent a combined 4,004 years of service to the District.
Heading the list of award recipients is Shirley Zimmerman, an English teacher at Jordan Middle School, with 45 years of service. There were a number of the teachers in the audience who stood up to acknowledge that Shirley had been their middle school English teacher. At 40 years of service, we had Diana Baker, Gale Heringer-Brock, Kathy Lawrence, and Judy Niizawa. Diana Baker teaches third grade at Walter Hays. She is still full of enthusiasm and always happy to learn something new. Gale Heringer-Brock is the library media teacher at Walter Hays. Over the years, she has read thousands of children’s books and always has a reading recommendation, no matter the genre. Kathy Lawrence, a Paly grad herself, is a science teacher at Palo Alto High School. She has served as Instructional Supervisor of the science department since 1997. Judy Niizawa is the speech-language pathologist at Gunn and Palo Alto High Schools. She continues to dedicate herself to meeting the needs of the whole child.
The District extends its congratulations and appreciation to all!