A Night of Recognition

Tonight my school district held its first Service Award Dinner, and it was much better than I expected. Employees - including teachers, auxiliary personnel, custodians, administrative staff, administration, & more - received $500 per five years of service (for 5, 10, 15 years, etc.). Over $335,000 were distributed to staff members at tonight's dinner. That dollar amount does not include employees who were not in attendance that have been with the district for five years. There was a man who received recognition for being with our district for 35 years. Wow.

One thing I did notice is that with all of the people there (over 250), there were only a couple of former employees from my building. I knew many others there, but they were from my time at another school, people I met in trainings, service personnel, etc. That alone showed me that our staff stays at my school for a reason, and the main reason we ever lose people is because they go on to bigger and better things.

With everything going on in today's economy and DISD, I feel very privileged to work for a district that truly values its employees. Tonight is one example that proved that to be true.

A picture of my assistant principal (in year 16), my principal (in year 15) & me (in year 11). A fun note: I graduated from high school w/ Lance (my principal)!

The only thing that would have made the evening better - wine with dinner. :) Guess goverment dollars don't pay for alcohol unless you're in the political arena!