3 Westlake Schools Staffers Receive Excellence Awards

WESTLAKE, OH — Three Westlake Schools staffers were given Staff Excellence awards at a recent Board of Education meeting. Laura Keane, Rachael Kane and Katie McGlynn were all honored during the event.

Keane is an educational aide at Westlake Elementary School. She was given the Excellence in Classified Service award. “Laura chooses to use positive words and helps students understand if they have made a mistake while maintaining the children’s integrity and sense of self-worth,” one colleague wrote in a nomination letter. “She goes above and beyond to take care of those around her.”

Kane and McGlynn are part of the Westlake High intervention specialists team. They were given the Excellence in Teaching award. The duo are advisers for Project Support, a club that matches peers with students with special needs. Club members go to football games, take part in Halloween Fun Night, bowling trips and attend school plays and musicals.

“Students can feel a sense of accomplishment when they go to work or do classroom activities,” a nomination read. “They have pride in their finished work when they are done.”

This is the 20th anniversary of the Staff Excellence awards. This year's recipients will have their names inscribed on a plaque that hangs at the Board of Education office.

To receive an award, honorees must have worked in the district for, at least, four years and must be nominated by at least two colleagues and endorsed by a supervisor.