Hoosac Valley Elementary First-Grade Teacher Honored
April Mazzeo received her award on May 3 at MCLA.
CHESHIRE, Mass. — On May 3, Hoosac Valley Elementary School first-grade teacher April Mazzeo was one of several teachers who received a Berkshire County Educator Recognition Award.
On Monday night, the Adams Cheshire Regional School Committee publicly congratulated her at its meeting.
Mazzeo met with the school committee Monday after receiving the award, given by Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in collaboration with Berkshire County K-12 superintendents and Berkshire Community College. The award, now in its eighth year, was created to honor the region's exceptional teachers.
"I am honored to receive this award for myself as well as the district. This is the place I think of as my forever home," Mazzeo said. "I love it here and it is an amazing place to work."
Hoosac Valley Elementary School Principal Michele Colvin said Mazzeo came to the district in 2014 and is "that teacher."
"She is the one who played school as a little girl and dreamed her whole life of becoming a teacher one day when she was all grown up," Colvin said. "In her teaching career, April is still that teacher."
Colvin said Mazzeo helped completely revamp and align the district's kindergarten through fifth-grade STEAM programming with state standards. She added that she is also an asset for other teachers, the district and the community.
"She is a transformative, dynamic and an inspirational first-grade teacher," she said. "She has found a way to encourage, motivate, energize and engage our students, their families and our community."
In other school committee business on Monday, interim Hoosac Valley Middle School Principal Chris Sposato was named the permanent principal.
Sposato was named the interim principal in April of last year when the unanticipated departure of Hoosac Valley Elementary School Principal Peter Bachli triggered a reorganization of the administrative staff.
Superintendent Robert Putnam said the position was posted for the month of March and the district received applications from five qualified candidates. Putnam said three of these candidates were interviewed by three separate interview committees: a Parent Committee, a Staff Committee and an Administrators Committee.
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The school committee hears from students Adam Bush, Kelsey Wohrle and Douglas LaDouceur about a recent trip abroad.
The school committee also heard from students Adam Bush, Kelsey Wohrle and Douglas LaDouceur, who recently went on a school trip to England and Scotland.
Bush said it was an eye-opening experience.
"You study history in school all of the time … and with traveling you actually see these historic places and can make that connection," Bush said. "But I think the most important thing about these trips is the cultural experience and it makes you a fuller person."
LaDouceur added that it was interesting to experience a new culture.
"The pictures can only say so much of how great that experience was just being there and seeing all of the different architecture that they have that is so completely different," he said. "Different accents, restaurants and beyond, that is the first time a lot of us even left the country."
Wohrle agreed and said her favorite part of the trip was walking around in Edinburgh, Scotland.
"My favorite part was just walking around the city and seeing the differences," she said.
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