Norwood T.A.’s Leila Kubesch Named 2020 Ohio Teacher of the Year
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria surprised students and staff at Norwood Middle School this week by announcing that Leila Kubesch was selected as Ohio’s 2020 teacher of the year.
Kubesch teaches Spanish and English as a second language at Norwood Middle School.
School officials also said Kubesch encourages students to participate in service learning projects to build confidence and grow their desire to learn. For example, students have worked for a local cable television station to create a talk show involving community members who discuss various topics with the students.
Kubesch and her students were awarded the Ohio Education Association Media Award for Public Service for that project. They also received a grant to expand their studio.
During the 2017-18 school year, Kubesch secured a grant for a performing arts project. They created a display, laminating their dreams and hanging them on burlap sacks, with cutouts of hands forming a border. The display stretched more than 100 feet, and a special exhibit featuring the project opened at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Downtown Cincinnati. A poster by the exhibit explained how burlap was used in North Africa – as clothing, rugs and sacks.
Click here to learn more about Kubesch and the Ohio Teacher of the Year Program.
Ohio Education Association Elects New President And Vice President
[Columbus, May 13, 2019] ─ Members of the Ohio Education Association (OEA), the state’s largest public employee union, have elected Scott DiMauro to a three-year term as President, and Jeff Wensing to a three-year term as Vice President. Both will take office on July 15, 2019. The current President, Becky Higgins, is term-limited after having served two three-year terms.
The election of the two officers took place over the weekend at the OEA’s Representative Assembly (RA), the governing body of the organization. Nearly 1,000 member delegates from OEA local affiliates throughout Ohio participated in the RA.
DiMauro, who currently serves as OEA’s Vice President, has been an active OEA member throughout his teaching career. He was a social studies teacher at Worthington Kilbourne High School before being elected as OEA’s Vice President in 2013.
OEA Vice President-elect Jeff Wensing is a 26-year high school math teacher from Parma, Ohio. Prior to his election as OEA Vice-President, Wensing served as the President of the Parma Education Association and as the President of the North Eastern Ohio Education Association.
OEA represents 122,000 teachers, education support professionals and higher-education faculty.
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