Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda UFSD
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- Kenmore Town of Tonawanda UFSD
- Overview
3 New Teachers Earn National Board Certification
Ken-Ton's newest Board-Certified Teachers – from left, Larissa Gramza, Mike Ihde, and Robyn Brydalski – are recognized by KTA President Peter Stuhlmiller.
Three teachers have joined the growing list of educators in the Ken-Ton School District who have earned National Board Certification, the gold standard in teaching.
Earlier this year, National Board Certification was earned by Robyn Brydalski, elementary school teacher at Franklin Elementary; Larissa Gramza, school support specialist at Franklin Elementary; and Mike Ihde, music teacher at Kenmore East. Also, Laura Howse, Kenmore West High School International Baccalaureate (IB) coordinator, became the second Ken-Ton teacher to earn her recertification, which is now required every five years.
This brings the Ken-Ton School District to a total of 23 current or recently retired National Board Certified teachers, with four additional Ken-Ton teachers who are currently pursuing their certification.
The Ken-Ton School District is among the districts in New York State with the highest number of National Board Certified teachers. Also, Ken-Ton has one of the highest percentages – if not the highest percentage – of its teaching staff who have earned this distinction in the Far West Region.
“It has been exciting to see how this has grown, and how our students ultimately benefit from their teachers’ reflection and achievement,” said ELA instructional coach Kathleen Reiser, one of Ken-Ton’s board certified Teachers.
Reiser and her colleague Amy Klose, another board certified teacher, have been trained in candidate support and are helping other educators achieve National Board Certification with support from Ken-Ton’s Staff Development Center and the New York State United Teachers.
They are helping educators from other school districts achieve certification as well. This year, they had a candidate from the Niagara Falls and Silver Creek school districts achieve board certification, with three additional candidates pursuing this work from outside Ken-Ton. In this way, Ken-Ton has become a hub for National Board Certification in Western New York.
Board certification, awarded by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, is considered to be the gold standard for teaching. It is a performance-based peer-review process similar to board certification in medicine. Earning National Board Certification is a rigorous process which includes written entries, exams, and video submissions, and can take one or two years. There are four components of certification: an assessment of the candidate’s subject area knowledge, evidence of differentiation in instruction, video recordings of classroom instruction, and evidence of being an effective and reflective practitioner of teaching practices.
In addition to Brydalski, Gramza and Ihde, other current and recent Ken-Ton educators with National Board Certification include:
- Jeanette Costello (Hoover Middle)
- Penelope DePasquale (Hoover Middle)
- Renee L. Freda (Hoover Middle)
- Heather Gardner (Hoover Elementary)
- Nicole Hanagan (Kenmore East)
- Laura Howse (Kenmore West)
- Joanna Hourihan (Hoover Elementary)
- Amy Klose (Kenmore West)
- Patricia Kosis (Principal, Franklin Elementary)
- Rachel Newman (Edison Elementary)
- Kathleen Reiser (Instructional Support Specialist)
- Mary Ricotta (Franklin Middle)
- Tracy Wilson (Franklin Elementary)
- Jeanette Yoder (Franklin Middle)
- Susan Busch (retired; Hoover Elementary)
- Marilyn Drnevich (retired; Kenmore West)
- Nancyann Militello (retired; Kenmore West)
- Lisa Parks (retired; Kenmore West)
- Carmelina Persico (former principal, now at West Seneca)
- Valerie Tundo (retired; Hoover Middle)