Three Snoqualmie Valley School educators got unexpected accolades Feb. 27 as principals, photographers and the Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation burst into their classrooms with flowers and balloons.

For its second annual Educators of the Year award, the foundation chose Mount Si High School math teacher Tracy Petroske, Opstad Elementary first-grade teacher Nancy Pastrana and Fall City Elementary head custodian Patrick “PJ” Duvall. 

Lara Currie, left, and Carolyn Simpson with the Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation present Tracy Petroske, right, with an Educator of the Year award.

The award is given to one educator teaching preschool through grade five, another teaching grade six through 12 and one classified employee, all of whom exemplify commitment to excellence in education and dedication to students and the community. Nominations came from colleagues, parents or students and were evaluated by an independent committee of Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce members.  

Petroske learned about her award while teaching her math lab class.

“Thank you so much,” Petroske said. “I’m shaking.”

“I’m really happy for her,” freshman math lab student Miriah Spiers said. “She’s a hard worker and she’s really nice.”

Petroske started her career as a physicist and later started her Ph.D. in physical oceanography. As a graduate student, she student-taught and learned she had a passion for teaching. 

After several years as a stay-at-home mother taking care of her three children, Petroske started teaching science at the Jewish Day School in Bellevue. When a math position opened at Mount Si in 2002, she immediately applied.

“I really wanted to teach at Mount Si because I live here,” Petroske said. “I really wanted to be in our community.”

Petroske, who recently earned her National Board Certification, is the adviser to several student clubs and will add the foundation’s award to her list of honors. 

“My family is really excited,” Petroske said. “They go, ‘Oh it doesn’t surprise me.’ But it surprises me! My mom sent me flowers to school today. I’ve been glowing all weekend.”

Opstad teacher Pastrana learned about her proclivity for teaching as a student at the University of Washington. When she began volunteering at a day care, she realized “it was just what I needed to do in life.”

Pastrana moved to Eastern Washington for 10 years, where she worked with English language learners, many of them Hispanic.

“Over time, I learned some Spanish,” Pastrana said. “But the kids really responded to that because they knew I was struggling with Spanish as hard as they were struggling with English.” 

She started teaching at Opstad when it opened in 1988 and has taught first or second grade ever since. 

Upon learning of her nomination, Pastrana said she was amazed.

“There are so many really wonderful teachers, even just here at Opstad, that I couldn’t even imagine getting selected,” she said.

Duvall did not hear the foundation announce their award, but when he saw it, he could not stop grinning. Duvall, who is deaf, got his start working as a night custodian at Snoqualmie Middle School for 10 years, before moving to Fall City Elementary four years ago as head custodian. 

“I like to keep clean in our school,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I like to work with FCE staffs and community.”

Because Duvall cannot hear the intercom, he uses a Blackberry to receive updates. He is also an expert lip reader.

The award surprised him, he wrote.

“I want to say a simple word in two words: ‘Thank you,’” Duvall wrote.

All three educators will be honored at the Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation Spring Fundraising Luncheon at the Snoqualmie Ridge Golf Club from 11:30 a.m. — 1 p.m. March 26. Visit www.SVSFoundation.org for more information or to RSVP.

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Four Snoqualmie Valley teachers have earned their National Board Certifications, more than doubling the number of teachers in the district who have reached certification status. 

The teachers — Mount Si High School’s Christine Kjenner and Tracy Petroske, Snoqualmie Middle School’s Ruth Huschle and Chief Kanim Middle School’s Meghan James — join Gayle Smith, Gerald Bopp and John Pinsker at the national certification table.

Certified teachers submit a stack of material, including a four-part portfolio and six exercises, relating to subject content and teaching. A national panel of peers assesses each application. 

Ruth Huschle began her teaching career during a Peace Corps journey to Botswana in the late 1980s. After teaching art at Snoqualmie Middle School for four years, Huschle pursued the certification because she felt like she “needed some professional development.” 

The certification, which costs $2,500 to apply, awards teachers an annual $5,000 bonus from Washington state and a chance to analyze their teaching stratagem. Teachers need to renew their certification every decade. 

It took Huschle a year and a half to gather video footage of her teaching, track the improvements of two students, showcase her work connecting her class with the community and chart her accomplishments, leadership and professional development.

“I’m just so glad it’s done,” Huschle said. “It’s a very rigorous process. I easily put over 250 hours into it.”

Huschle monitored two students’ progressions from a basic drawing of a still life to a personality-infused painted self-portrait. In addition to helping students, Huschle helped herself. 

“I learned to be more reflective about the lessons I planned and tried to become more engaged with the students as individuals,” Huschle said. “With our numbers as they are, there is so much opportunity to sit while the kids work and get to know them.”

English teacher Meghan James said she was thrilled to receive her board certification.

“I took tests in teaching reading, writing and analyzing literature,” James said. 

Surprisingly, James said the process transitioned her back into the role of a student. Exams were normally a breeze for her, James said. But the certification tests put James in the shoes of students who balk at the thought of extended response. 

“The tests we had to take were so incredibly stressful,” James said. “Getting so scared and stressed out taught me a lot about what some kids go through.”

The process even helped her examine her work with aligning the K-12 language arts curriculum at the district writing summit. 

Mount Si math teacher Christine Kjenner added the certification to her accomplishment of earning a master’s in math education and teaching for 24 years.

“I didn’t need this for any kind of certification,” Kjenner said. “I did it for my own challenge and my own professional growth.”

Kjenner thanked her mother-in-law for babysitting her 4-year-old son while she worked for hours on end analyzing her teaching style and her students’ progress.

“Everything that you do is to improve student learning,” Kjenner said. 

As a progressive math teacher, Kjenner tutors her students on a walk-in basis after school four days a week, connects math to the real world — she had an investment banker talk to her pre-calculus students — and contacts parents when her students score well on exams. 

“Usually, we call parents with bad news, but it’s important to send good news home,” Kjenner said.

Math teacher Tracy Petroske could not be reached for comment.

John Pinsker and Gayle Smith co-facilitated a workshop for the four teachers, reviewing the applicants’ portfolios and suggesting areas to strengthen. Once completed, the certification process counts toward ProCert clock hours, a yearly requirement for all teachers.

On a state level, 919 teachers across Washington earned their certification this year. Now, with 2,726 certified teachers, Washington ranks eighth in the nation for teachers with a national board certification to their name.

Studies have shown teachers with certification get positive results in the classroom. Students learning from certificated teachers tend to perform better on standardized tests compared to their peers learning from non-certificated teachers. Certified teachers are more likely to create engaging lesson plans, as well. 

“One thing I learned is it reinforced that I love teaching art,” Huschle said. “That it is definitely the place for me to be. I learned that I really enjoy middle school students.”