Patricia El-Kassir and Andrés Bautista

A third-grade Gifted and Talented teacher and a middle school art instructor were named the 2006 Spring Branch Teachers of the Year during the district’s Service Awards event and reception. The employee-recognition event was held May 4 at Northbrook High School.

Patricia El-Kassir, a bilingual teacher in the Bendwood School’s Gifted and Talented program, was named SBISD Elementary Teacher of the Year. Andrés Bautista, an art teacher at Landrum Middle School, was selected the Secondary Teacher of the Year during the special program.

Superintendent of Schools Duncan Klussmann announced the prizewinners after recognizing the three finalists in each category. This year, 39 campuses in all submitted Teacher of the Year nominees for the competitive award.

Each nominee wrote personal essays about their life, work and passion for teaching. A panel of judges, which included Board of Trustees member Susan Mathews this year, independently reviewed these nomination packets and then narrowed the choice to six finalists – three Elementary and three Secondary.

The finalists were interviewed and then rated by the panel.

As 2006 Teachers of the Year, El-Kassir and Bautista will represent SBISD in regional competition, and may go on to state and possibly national contests.

Interestingly, both SBISD Teachers of the Year are also success stories with personal or family ties to recent immigration. El-Kassir first came to the United States in 1978. Bautista’s family traveled seasonally to Washington state for 15 years to do seasonal migrant labor in the Yakima Valley. 

A 14-year teacher, El-Kassir is a 1992 University of Houston graduate who holds Gifted and Talented certification through the University of St. Thomas. She has taught for two years at the Bendwood School. She’s also taught fifth-grade bilingual classes at Pine Shadows Elementary, and was recognized as a Teacher of the Year twice while teaching in HISD.

Her love of teaching has taken her to the Middle East, where she taught two years in Lebanon.

A three-year member of the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented, she reaches out to parents and challenges all her children to develop their potential.

An advocate of research-based instruction, her teaching unit on “Patterns in Neurology” led her and her students to meet with Rice University researchers as well as with neurologists from Baylor College of Medicine during a class field trip.

“For many of the students, this was their first experience on a college-level campus,” says Jana Bassett, her principal. “Patricia used this opportunity to let the students know that they, too, could attend college. She encourages them to stay focused in school and to work hard until their dreams can be achieved.”

At the reception, El-Kassir thanked her husband and four children who all attend Spring Branch schools for their love and support. She also recognized other SBISD teachers and even thanked the third-graders that she sees every week in her classroom at the Bendwood School.

“I want to recognize the 82 children that I work with from every elementary school in the district. I am fortunate to nurture children from all over this district, and get to see firsthand the diversity and the brilliance of many young minds. The dedication I see in my students and their parents gives me great hopes for the future of our country,” she said.

Bautista, a 1990 graduate of Texas A&I University in Kingsville, Texas, who has taken graduate courses at the University of Houston, has taught 16 years. He joined Landrum Middle soon after graduation, and has developed and won recognition for his student art program.

Today, Bautista teaches beginner, advanced and pre-Advanced Placement art. Seventh- and eighth-graders can take advanced or pre-AP art classes and his students have earned regional recognition and awards.

Nineteen of his students entered artwork in this year’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Art Contest; 19 received red or blue ribbons, and among 13 blue ribbon winners were seven finalists and the Best of Show middle school winner. The Best of Show winner, Gustavo Pina, will now attend the Glassell School of Art this summer.

In addition to teaching duties, Bautista sponsors a group of young student artists who create large, original school hallway murals after school. For two years, he was scoutmaster for a campus-based Boy Scouts troop, and he also facilitated R.O.P.E.S. activities for scout troops throughout Houston.

An emotional Bautista spoke directly from his heart at the Service Awards, noting that his father entered Texas under the 1950’s-era Bracero Program, a U.S.-Mexico agreement that allowed Mexican citizens to perform agricultural work here after World War II, primarily in Texas and California.

“They wanted the American Dream,” he said, speaking of his parents and their big hopes for their 11 children. “I truly believe in the adage, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ It sure did take a village to raise and educate Andrés Bautista.”

His sister, Lupe, inspired him to do better and also helped pay for college.

At graduation, his mother told Andrés, “Your first-grade teacher was right. She told me to always have art supplies for you because one day you were going to do something with your artistic skills,” he recalls.

His “village” includes several SBISD teachers and principals, he also said.

“Andrés is an extraordinary teacher who willingly dedicates his time to the Landrum art students and school-wide mural projects. He is one of the most passionate teachers I have ever met, and when I walk into his room during the day students are actively involved with quality art projects,” School Principal Jennifer Parker states.

As winners, El-Kassir and Bautista will each receive a $2,000 professional growth stipend from the district, a $1,000 cash award from the Spring Branch Education Foundation, a $250 award from First Community Credit Union, and gifts and gift certificates from other generous donors.

No other Texas school district has achieved Spring Branch’s recent history of success in the Teacher of the Year program, naming regional winners in 1990, 1994, 1999 and 2000, and Texas Teachers of the Year in 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989 and 2000.

In addition to Patricia El-Kassir, Elementary Teacher of the Year finalists this year were Bunker Hill Elementary’s Katherine Kyle and Michael Terlouw of Housman Elementary.

Secondary Teacher of the Year Finalists, in addition to Andrés Bautista, were Stephanie Walton of Northbrook Middle School and Christopher Witschonke of Cornerstone Academy.

SBISD staff and retirees who attended the Service Awards were honored for public service ranging from 5 to more than 40 years. Retirees who were honored reflect a total of 1,070 years of service in education

The Service Awards also honored the district’s 2005-2006 Employees of the Month and 2005-2006 Volunteers of the Month.

Spring Branch Education Association President Edie Clark presented the group’s Red Apple Award to The Metropolitan Organization for its work on education-related issues.

Accepting on behalf of the organization were Darci Hubbard of Memorial Drive United Methodist Church, Pastor Jan Wilbur with First Congregational Church and TMO organizer Broderick Bagart.

posted 05-05-06