Teresa’s Big Win

A huge congratulations to Teresa Fleming as School Transportation News has selected Teresa as its 2023 Transportation Director of the Year! Teresa is being honored for the leadership she provides to the department for the benefit of our students and their parents. She currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Operations in the Office of Transportation Services. School Transportation News will feature her in their November 1st issue. The publication will also recognize her in late November at the National Conference & Exhibition on Transporting Students with Disabilities & Special Needs in Frisco, Texas. Once again, congratulations, Teresa. This is a huge honor and it is well-deserved.

Shaped for Success

Double congratulations are in order for Todd Corabi and Jeffrey Brown. Todd Corabi, an educator at Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush High School, will be presented with the 2023 SHAPE PA Health Teacher of the Year. Jeffrey Brown, who retired from Baldi Middle School in June, was selected as the 2023 SHAPE PA Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year. SHAPE (Society of Health and Physical Educators) PA, the state chapter of the nation’s largest membership organization of health and physical education teachers. The organization recognizes the work of outstanding educators in Pennsylvania. Today, SDP recognizes the outstanding work of both of these great men. Both Corabi and Brown will be honored at the Teacher of the Year Award Celebration at Spooky Nook Sports on Thursday, October 26, 2023.

A Rose at Southwark

Rose N. Rodriguez, Bilingual Secretary at Southwark School has served at the District for almost five years. Rose was nominated by Principal Lukov,  who gushed over his entire staff, but singled out Rose without hesitation. Principal Lukov nominated Rose for the great work she is doing and the impact that she has on the Southwark Community.

We asked Rose some of our favorite questions: 

What are the joys of being a Latinx/Hispanic? 
Other than food, music, and dancing. I am so happy to be a dual language individual and be able to utilize this skill to help out members in the community.

What are the challenges you’ve overcome as a Latinx/Hispanic in the District or in general?
I am lucky to not have many challenges within the district or in general other than learning to navigate the different Spanish dialects as one innocent word in my Spanish can mean something totally different in another country’s Spanish – that can be challenging at times.

How do you honor your heritage and culture inside or outside of work?  
This is the first job where I have had to use my mother tongue and I am so proud to be able to use Spanish every single day to communicate with our ever-increasing Hispanic population at school. At home, I proudly exhibit some Puerto Rican knick-knacks and artwork on our walls and enjoy telling (and playing) my kids about the music I grew up with and the food I enjoyed.

What is your favorite thing about your culture/heritage?
The food, music, and dancing.

Is there anything else that you’d like people to know?
If attainable some day anyone and everyone must visit at least one Hispanic country in their lifetime.

Thank you, Rose, for the incredible impact you’re having on Philadelphia students, especially the growing Hispanic population in our School District. We appreciate your dedication to the service of our students and families.

26 Years and Cruzin’

Hector Cruz, School Safety Officer, started working for the School District of Philadelphia in 1997.  Since then, he’s served at multiple schools making a positive impact on the students and staff across the city. Officer Cruz first served as a School Police Officer at his alma mater, Thomas Edison High School. He served for two years at Edison, which was a middle school at that time, before moving on to Issac Sheppard Elementary School where he remained for 12 years. “I loved the little kids. The only reason that I left was because my position was closed due to a lack of incidents.” Thankfully, Cruz remained with the District and served at several other schools including Feltonville School of the Arts & Sciences and John Barry Elementary School.

Cruz has called Philadelphia home since he relocated from Puerto Rico at the age of seven with his parents and five siblings. Prior to serving at the School District of Philadelphia, he served in the military for 5 ½ years – two years in Louisiana and 2 ½ years in Germany.

We asked Officer Cruz some of our favorite questions: 

What are the joys of being a Latinx/Hispanic? 
The good thing is I speak the language. Although we moved here, my Mom always spoke Spanish. She read the bible to us in Spanish. So I always kept the Spanish – the reading and speaking. It’s been great here because we’ve been getting alot of Spanish-speaking immigrants. So for me it’s a great thing to be able to help them out. They look at me and ask, “You speak Spanish? You look like you speak Spanish,” and they get happy.

What are the challenges you’ve overcome as a Latinx/Hispanic in the District or in general? 
For the most part there haven’t been any challenges here at the District. The people that I work with are real good people. I get along with everybody.

How do you honor your heritage and culture inside or outside of work? 
For one, its speaking the language. You can get a job with the District translating for people. So for me, its keeping what you grew up with – Spanish, the language.

What is your favorite thing about your culture/heritage? 
The food! Mainly pasteles for the holidays. The music – I remember going to school here at Edison High School, our music teacher who was African American, loved Latin Music and he used to play it. He was a piano player. We also had a Latin band at Edison that I was a part of.

Is there anything else that you’d like people to know about? 
One thing that I’ve learned as a Christian is you have to treat people with respect. Treat people the way you want to be treated, no matter what race or what color. Treat everybody the same. It has worked for me.

Officer Cruz received multiple stand-out nominations from throughout the District. The common theme expressed in the nominations was his pleasant and helpful demeanor – how he treats everyone with whom he comes into contact regardless of status or title.

“Officer Cruz who is of Latin Heritage from Puerto Rico, and is a kind and loving husband and father who exemplifies the best of humanity both professionally, and communally. Officer Cruz is involved in his personal community in a way that reflects his spiritual and cultural experiences, personality and goals. Officer Cruz is effective, caring and attentive in his willingness to compassionately assist every guest, including our Spanish-speaking families and School District Personnel in whatever way possible. His bright smile greets each and everyone who comes through the doors of 440 either as an employee or to seek assistance. His position as School Safety Officer is a welcome addition to the School District’s efforts to make each and everyone who enters the doors here at 440 feel safe, secure, seen, and welcome” – Michelle Weld 

Officer Cruz, thank you for your 26 years of service to the School District of Philadelphia. You are an inspiration to us all. We appreciate your commitment to treating people with kindness and respect.

Congratulations Hon. Luis Munoz Marin Elementary School

The Philadelphia Tribune features “Good News” from The School District of Philadelphia each week in its Learning Key section. In addition to SDP’s “Good News,” every Tuesday the Tribune names a District school as School of the Week. Every week one of our schools is highlighted for the amazing work they are doing with our students. We’re excited to announce Luis Munoz Marin Elementary School as School of the Week in The Philadelphia Tribune’s Learning Key. Read Luis Munoz Marin’s feature article in the Tribune here.

Be on the lookout for more School of the Week features in SDP Weekly and SDP Connect!