Cassidy Morgan – 509J Online K/1st Grade Teacher
Question: What was your reaction when you found out you were nominated for the February Certified Team Spotlight?
Answer: “When I found out that I was selected, I was so excited. I just felt really honored that my hard work was recognized and especially being a first-year teacher.”
Question: How long have you worked for the district?
Answer: “I just graduated in May. So, it’s my first year teaching at Jefferson County and teaching online. I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been great and it’s been a really fun learning experience for me.”
Question: What is your favorite part about being a teacher?
Answer: “My favorite part about being a teacher is like seeing the ‘aha’ moment for kids and just knowing that what I’m doing is making an impact on their lives.”
Question: Why did you want to become a teacher?
Answer: “I wanted to become a teacher because growing up my home life wasn’t ideal. Neither of my parents were really around and there for me much. So, my teachers were very important to me, and they were some of the only adult figures in my life that I knew I could depend on. So, I wanted to be that for kids.”
Question: What is it like being a teacher for an online school?
Answer: “When COVID happened two years ago, online learning became very prevalent. The students I teach haven’t had an in person learning experience before, so I feel really blessed to be able to be like their first teacher, even if it’s not in the traditional way.”
Nancy Viramontes – Jefferson County Community Learning Center Family Engagement Coordinator/509J Language Service Coordinator
Question: What was your reaction when you found out you were nominated for the February Classified Team Spotlight?
Answer: “I was like, Oh, my goodness, it’s about me. So, I just tried to share the news with my kids and they were also so excited and they were proud of me.”
Question: How long have you worked for the district?
Answer: “I’ve been working for the school district for the last 11 years. Actually, last February was my 11th year.”
Question: What made you start working in public education?
Answer: “The first time that I was in touch with the education system is when my daughter went to kindergarten. I signed up to be a volunteer and. I was still doing it for like three months and then I was hired as an educational assistant and I noticed that back then we didn’t have enough bilingual staff. So, my help was really needed. So, I was so happy to be helpful at that time.
Question: What is your favorite part about your job?
Answer: “One of my favorite parts is that I’m like the bridge and the connection between the families and staff, and the schools, the students, and I love to have that relationship with families. So, if they need something that will help other students to succeed and the school they come to me and they ask me for help.
Question: What does your day to day look like as the Family Engagement Coordinator and Language Service Coordinator?
Answer: “I try to help the district, the families and the staff get connected with our families and we create events. Like in the past, we create like math events, literacy and we try just to keep engaging the families in our district so that way our students can succeed in school. As language service coordinator, my position helps the staff or teachers in schools or the SSB to help them to translate all the communications that they need to send to families.”
Question: What do you like about working for the Jefferson County School District?”
Answer: “I really enjoy because it is a really nice environment for me. When I have an idea, I feel free to share it with my supervisors and then they listen to me and then if they can do it, they do it. I also like that we always try to work as a team.”