Teacher of year shares education views at event

Web posted October 29, 1998

By Ben Deck
Morris News Service

ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia's teacher of the year offered colleagues the kind of strong views that he believes won him $25,000 from an education foundation Wednesday.

``We have to remind parents that we are the experts in the classroom,'' said Andy Baumgartner, who won teacher of the year honors as well as a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award for 1998.

Mr. Baumgartner, a kindergarten teacher at A. Brian Merry Elementary School in Richmond County, spoke to more than 700 Georgia teachers attending a technology conference in Athens.

Joining Mr. Baumgartner as $25,000 Milken Award winners were Deborah Hargroves, a media specialist at Herman W. Hesse Elementary School in Chatham County; Ken Almon, a fifth-grade teacher at Norcross Elementary School in Gwinnett County; and Mona Tucker, principal of Nickajack Elementary School in Cobb County.

The teachers learned of the awards in September, said state School Superintendent Linda Schrenko, who was on hand to recognize them. Each Milken winner receives $25,000.

The foundation was established by convicted financier Michael Milken, who made a fortune by creating a strategy for funding business mergers through the issuance of so-called junk bonds that have lower credit ratings than investment-grade corporate bonds. Since his fraud conviction and release from prison, Mr. Milken has championed education, pumping money into his foundation.

``Milken is a big supporter of education technology in this country, so it's a natural fit'' to recognize the teachers during the conference, said Phil Thomas, director of educational technology for the state.

The recipients gave differing views of the classroom while addressing their peers.

Mr. Baumgartner focused on the difficulties teachers face, ranging from ``overcrowded and under-equipped classrooms'' to ``blanket test scores'' used to judge teachers that are ``unfairly represented in the media.''

Mr. Almon offered poetry in English and Spanish and said ``we shouldn't expect students to get excited about learning if we aren't excited about teaching.''

Ms. Hargroves started off speaking in an Irish accent and described the stories about Leprechauns she uses to catch her children's imaginations. She supervises ``the Bear Connection,'' a news program put on by fifth-graders at her elementary school.

Each winner also mentioned a love of teaching when asked what personal qualities won them the award.

``Basically, we have a real good time,'' Mr. Baumgartner said.