Three teachers lauded
Three North County teachers were on track June 11 to be
honored as Santa Barbara County Distinguished Educators.
County Superintendent of Schools William J. Cirone scheduled a press conference for the morning of June
12 to announce the honored trio, who are: Diane Siegal,
an English teacher at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School; Nicole Mercado, an
eighth grade English teacher at Jonata Middle School
in Buellton, and Beverly Larsen, an intervention teacher at Ontiveros
School in Santa Maria.
The Distinguished Educators honors were created, Cirone said, to acknowledge teachers in the Teacher of the
Year awards program. Luke Laurie, a science teacher at El Camino Junior High in
Santa Maria, was named winner of the Teacher of the Year title in May.
The decision to name the three Distinguished Educators
came when the selection committee for Teacher of the Year “expressed strong
feelings that the application and credentials of Larsen, Mercado, and Siegal were clearly Teacher-of-the-Year caliber,” according
to a press release from Cirone’s office.
The committee could only select one educator as Teacher of
the Year.
But, according to Cirone,
committee members “felt strongly” that the other three teachers should receive
recognition for their excellence.
Siegal, who has taught at SYVUHS for seven years, wrote in a
statement to the committee: “My ultimate goal is for [students] to feel safe
enough to express their ideas in a classroom environment that is absolutely
scholarly, but also open and playful.”