The Right Kind of Recognition

It's great to acknowledge the wonderful work that Catholic school teachers do. This local report in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette does just that here.

A sampler:

Janet Bartlett, of St. Philip School in Crafton, and Ann Catena, of SS. Simon & Jude School in Scott, were among 10 Catholic schoo lteachers in the Diocese of Pittsburgh who received Golden Apple Awards recently for excellence in performance.

They were awarded $5,000 each by Bishop Donald W. Wuerl at a dinner May 31 in the Pittsburgh Westin Convention Center Hotel.

Bartlett has been a music and art teacher at St. Philip for 14 years. The nominating letter signed by 21 parents and teachers describes her as "an amazingly creative person."

She has developed a theater program in middle school and has taken the cast to perform outside the school to places such as nursing homes and other Catholic and public schools.

I wish I could work in a Catholic school. Unfortunately, I can't provide for my family where I live by doing so. Perhaps if and when we move somewhere less exacerbatingly expensive I can consider it. Praise God that such dedicate professionals are willing to serve. May God continue to bless and inpire them to offer their best to their students.