By: Jen Russon

Only a handful of Broward County Public Schools are located in Parkland, but they consistently stand out with exemplary teachers, principals, and non-instructional staff.

The following Parkland schools have submitted their ‘Teacher of the Year’ and ‘Employee of the Year’ as nominees for the 2021 Caliber Award.

Heron Heights Elementary School

Pilar Zenere, a first-grade teacher, is the Teacher of the Year at Heron Heights Elementary.

Ioan Claudiu Verba, a micro-computer tech specialist, is Employee of the Year at Heron Heights Elementary.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

Teacher of the Year, Melissa Falkowski, was featured in a Parkland Talk story earlier this fall. Falkowski is a newspaper and creative writing teacher.

Eduardo Suarez, the head facility service person for high tech, was named Employee of the Year.

Park Trails Elementary School

Park Trails Elementary named Mary Elsemiller, a specials teacher, as Teacher of the Year.

Beth Krate, a classroom assistant, was named Employee of the Year.

Riverglades Elementary School

Sharyn Mason, a fourth-grade teacher at Riverglades Elementary, was named Teacher of the Year.

Angelo Rainey, a micro-computer tech specialist, was named Employee of the Year.

Westglades Middle School

Corinna Ramouta, a math teacher at Westglades Middle School, was named Teacher of the Year.

Idi Vance, the office manager, was named Employee of the Year.

Principal and Assistant Principal Caliber Awards

Principal Michelle Kefford and Assistant Principal Tariq Qaiyim at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were nominated.

Principal Matthew Bianchi, of Westglades Middle School, is also a nominee.

All Caliber Award nominees have submitted application materials to their district cadre director, culled down to finalists, and reviewed by a select screening committee on or by December 2.

One winner from each Caliber Awards category will be selected and acknowledged at the annual ceremony held at the Greater Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in January or February.

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Author Profile

Jen Russon

Jen Russon is a freelance writer and English Language Arts teacher. She has published two novels to Amazon Kindle and lives in Coral Springs with her family.