Please enjoy this guest post from recently retired ANC 2B Commissioner Phil Carney:
A Standing Ovation for DC Teachers (www.stadingovationforteachers.org)
At the third annual event honoring exceptional DC public school teachers, the surprises were the award presenters: Secretary of Health and Human Services, Vernon Jordan, Jim Lehrer, Andrea Mitchel, the Mayor, a graduate of DC’s Duke Ellington School who starred in Meet the Browns TV show, and a former DC public school teacher who started her rather successful second career upstairs at Mr. Henrys on the Hill, Roberta Flack. Each had a story about a teacher or teachers who changed their lives.
George Stevens created and produces shows like the Kennedy Center Honors. Three years ago he came up with the idea for a special event to honor DC Teachers which he now also produces. The presentations are held in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall with a reception held afterward. This year there was a 46 percent increase in DC teachers rated as “exceptional.” My gardening buddy, Steve Aupperle, was one of the many honored as exceptional teachers. NBC’s Jim Vance again hosted the event. There were 7 teachers and one principal individually honored as the best of the best.
What impressed me the most were the presenter’s stories. Kathleen Sebelius shared that her nun teachers always argued that their girls would have opportunities that they never had and could accomplish amazing things. And then the Cabinet member added, “And I did.”
Jim Lehrer had my favorite story. As a teenager he wanted only to play shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He told friends who told his coach who told Lehrer that he needed another plan for his future because Jim was a lousy baseball player. The next day Lehrer’s English teacher gave him an “A” for a paper and wrote, “You are a very good writer.” By the next day he had decided to become a writer and except for 3 years in the Marines, he has spent his life writing.
Philanthropist David Rosenstein had a teacher who told him not to worry about the big words he couldn’t pronounce and had him stay after school and practice pronouncing those big words with the teacher. The teacher also took him to the Pratt Library and got him a library card that allowed him to check out 12 books a week. And every week after that, he checked out 12 books a week. Today he still reads books plus 10 newspapers every day.
Forty years ago while on Army leave in Hawaii and en route to DC from Korea, I first heard Roberta Flack in concert sing her signature song. As she explained back then, a new kitten inspired her to write her most famous song. And forty years later I again heard her sing, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Her voice may not be as powerful, but her beautiful song still is.