The Rio Mirada

PHOTO BY DEREK POPPLE

I suppose I'm showing my age and campus longevity when I refer to our school's newspaper as The Rio Mirada. It seems the name changed to The Mirada somewhere in the years between my service as advisor (1987-1990) and today.

In any case, the students wrote a nice article for the school newspaper published last week.

Dean Baird Recognized by White House, National Science Foundation

APPLAUSE from The Sacramento Bee

My phone blinker was blinking today. Our classroom phones are corded throwbacks to the 1970s, but we do have phones in our classrooms. Each is equipped with a single blinker that indicates when we have one or more voice mail messages.

The blinker is rarely a harbinger of glad tidings. But in this case, it was! There was a message from a 1968 graduate of Rio Americano High School. She offered generous kudos, including a recollection that her high school physics experience was not her most delightful. Her message was the most delightful one ever to grace my voice mail box.

She'd been inspired to phone because of a note of congratulations printed in today's Sacramento Bee:

APPLAUSE for September 17, 2012

Kudos to: Dean Baird, Rio Americano High School physics teacher

Received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
Baird traveled to the White House in June to receive his certificate and to meet fellow winners and Vice President Joe Biden. "The students that I get in physics are not scientists, they're not engineers, they're not mathematicians," Baird told a San Juan Unified School District online publication. "They're just kids that are ready to go to college. I want to give them a broad appreciation for physics and the role that it plays in their life."

Funny, the ripples that radiate from even a paragraph of a major regional newspaper.

Valley Community Newspapers

Valcomnews appears to be a local news aggregator. They picked up Rebecca Leroux's SJUSD article on my selection as a PAEMST finalist.

Rio Americano Teacher Dean Baird awarded Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching

San Juan Unified School District News

When I learned of my selection as a PAEMST national finalist on June 11, I notified my principal with all the details and recommended that he alert the school district's public relations office. He did.

But a Presidential Award is an odd bird. When you mention it to people—even to teachers, administrators, or district personnel—they don't know what it is. They simply haven't heard of it.

They've heard of Teacher of the Year, which is really a constellation of awards given annually at the district, county, state, and national level. PAEMST is not that. They've heard of News10's Teacher of the Month. PAEMST is not that.

They haven't heard of PAEMST because it is so rare. Only math and science teachers are eligible to apply, so that cuts out the wide majority of school teachers. And it alternates between K-6 (in even years) and 7-12 (in odd years).

I am only the 25th high school science teacher in California to have been named a PAEMST awardee since the program's inception in 1983. I teach more students than that in my 1st period AP Physics class.

Most teachers, administrators, and school personnel will complete their careers never knowing (or knowing of) a PAEMST honoree. So news of a PAEMST winner comes into newsrooms unexpected. Is it a big deal? A small deal? What is it? Is it really news?

The California Department of Education issued a press release congratulating Kentaro Iwasaki and me on our selection as PAEMST national finalists on Monday, June 25. While I was flying to Washington, DC on June 26, I received a message from my district's Community Relations office. They hoped to do an interview and to get some pictures. I contacted them upon my return from Washington, but they had closed down for the summer.

As the new school year got into full swing, my principal sent a gentle inquiry to the district regarding the addition of this news to the San Juan Scene/website news stream. SJUSD's Rebecca Leroux came out on August 23 for an interview, classroom observation, and in-class photo-shoot. She was nothing but professional and rolled with the flow of the day's classroom activity while doing her work.

Here's the story she wrote:

Rio teacher honored by President