At North Woods International, Tara Schuttenhelm (left) and Kate Hooper, continue a tradition of taking a photo with Carol Taebel when enjoying Thank a Teacher Day treats – even though Carol was there only in spirit through her photo.

Care packages were delivered this week to school buildings throughout the School District of La Crosse in recognition of the heroic efforts of teachers, administrators, support staff, cooks and many others helping students learn during the pandemic.

Board members of the La Crosse Public Education Foundation (LPEF) delivered boxes of fresh fruit and individually wrapped healthy snacks to almost 20 schools and other locations where District employees are doing their best to keep schooling going, even while school buildings are closed. Many teachers and staff members are using their own classrooms, even while meeting with students virtually.

The treats are in part to substitute for the cancellation last May of LPEF’s annual Thank a Teacher Day event. Since 2015, LPEF has hosted an annual event, delivering fresh fruit, donuts and muffins to each school as a treat for about 1,000 employees of the School District of La Crosse. Funding is provided via grant support from the La Crosse Community Foundation’s Carol Taebel “Thank a Teacher” Fund.

In addition to treats for staff, LPEF announced the award of two special “teacher appreciation” grants to be used to enhance learning opportunities for students:

• Joshua Wolcott, Kim Novak, Katie Schlegel, Tamara Gruen and Bethany Nugent will share a $500 grant for their work to create presentations and videos for all K-12 teachers in the District to help them be more effective in a blended learning environment. As one person put it in describing the efforts: “They consistently work “above and beyond” to meet the needs of our students, families and colleagues.”
• 

  Liz Ramsay

  Liz Ramsay of Longfellow Middle School will receive a $250 grant in recognition of the extra effort she recently made to travel around town on a Sunday, visiting students to deliver small gifts of appreciation to them for a job well done. Liz also has been a leader on the transition to distance learning, and has recently been accepted to participate in the Wisconsin Teacher Leader Network.

LPEF’s mission is to enhance learning opportunities for students and to promote community support for public education.