Introducing the Jim Hamilton Fund for Teacher Excellence: A new professional development program for teachers.

After a year of review of Hyla’s sabbatical program, the Board’s Personnel Committee introduced a new professional development program called the Jim Hamilton Fund for Teacher Excellence. With the goal of providing increased support to teachers to encourage their professional development, the committee explored more inclusive options and ultimately arrived at a plan that offers more frequent opportunities to more teachers. Whereas one teacher was eligible for funds every 2-3 years in the former sabbatical program, the new Fund is open to 4 teachers every year, on a 3 year rotation. Within just three years, all twelve teachers will have been eligible for these funds. The program requires that teachers demonstrate the value to their curriculum through an application process, and also requires that teachers share their learning with the community when they return. “Peer to peer education is an important part of our goal,” said Vicki.

“We are honored to name this fund after Jim Hamilton, a life-long educator and pioneer in middle school education, who has been part of Hyla since the early days of inception,” said Vicki. “Jim was part of the founding team of educators who envisioned Hyla and built it from the ground up. He has been on the Hyla board since 2005, and we are profoundly grateful for his steady stewardship, support, and strategic guidance over the years.”

“The new program allows teachers to grow in their profession in a timely manner, rather than wait years for their turn” Jim explains. “From the first two applications, one can observe how Hyla students will benefit almost immediately from the use of funds by two or more teachers at a time. This is one more example of how Hyla continues to evolve within the original mission statement.”

Teachers Jennifer Haase, Cami Holtmeier, Melissa Dempsey and Kimberley Gorman Trick are all eligible to apply for funds this year. The personnel committee received two applications so far this year, and approved both in the fall. The first provides funds to Kimberley Gorman Trick to present at an international conference in Costa Rica (see article on page 4). The second was awarded to Melissa Dempsey to further her study of Holocaust education (see page 3). The two remaining applications will arrive in early 2016, and we will continue to share news about our teachers and their exciting plans. “Hyla students will benefit almost immediately from the use of funds by two or more teachers at a time. This is one more example of how Hyla continues to evolve within the original mission statement.”

The Jim Hamilton Fund in Action: A Hyla teacher visits Austria and the Czech Republic

As part of the Humanities curriculum, Melissa teaches a unit called Heroes and Hope in the Holocaust. She has been a Holocaust educator for over 20 years, was awarded the Joseph Zola grant from the University of Hartford for continued work toward Holocaust education, and was also named Holocaust Educator of the Year in 2002.

With support from the Jim Hamilton Fund, accrued PD funds, and a grant from the Washington State Holocaust Center for Humanity, Melissa will travel to Austria and the Czech Republic to visit former concentration camps, as part of a study tour for educators hosted by the Holocaust Center for Humanity. “The first-hand, eyewitness account was a missing piece for me,” said Melissa. “Terezin is a ghetto and concentration camp which has always been a part of my Holocaust curriculum because of the enormous amount of artwork and poetry which was recovered after its liberation, and because it functioned as Hitler’s propaganda camp. It is an illustration of Nazi deception that middle school students can understand.”

The importance and value of studying the Holocaust spans a wide spectrum, Melissa explains, “ranging from seeing the results of bullying through a lens of greater compassion, to understanding ethnic cleansing in Myanmar (a culture we study in sixth grade), to understanding systemic racism, to processing the current Syrian refugee crisis.” In Humanities class, students begin to recognize signs and patterns, locally and globally, and this recognition is a fundamental skill in global citizenship.

Melissa is excited to work with Hyla teachers to develop cross-curricular connections when she returns, “from nutrition and math used in planning refugee camps, to student led, problem-solving projects. In the past, humanities and art have collaborated on creating Holocaust Memorials and visually representing their interpretations of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” This opportunity directly supports Melissa’s goal of “having a classroom that exhibits the responsibility that comes with democracy.”