Dixon School Board honors outstanding employees from the 2023-24 school year

DIXON – In the final stretch of the 2023-24 school year, the Dixon School Board began its regular meeting Wednesday, May 15, by honoring district employees who had exceeded expectations.

The awards presentation began with two employees of the year selected by the school board: Nicholas Haws, system analyst at Dixon Public Schools, and Tracy Kitzman, teacher at Reagan Middle School.

“[Nick is] always helping with special situations, guest speaker setups, streaming events ... Nick has been everywhere it seems like,” DPS Technology Director James Manly said when presenting Haws with the award.

Haws volunteered to conduct the livestream of the board meeting, which gave its usual worker the night off and since he was going to be there anyway, Manly said.

Haws has worked at Dixon Public Schools for about 10 years.

“I know how hard the tech team works. I know how hard the staff in my building works. To even be considered for this is an honor,” he said.

Kitzman was given the award because of the positive impact she’s made on her students throughout her 30-year teaching career at Reagan Middle School. She was educated through Dixon Public Schools herself and it was her teachers who inspired her and built her into the teacher she is today, Kitzman said in her acceptance speech.

Kitzman received a “near record-breaking number” of 26 nominations for the award that was 76 pages long, Superintendent Margo Empen said.

Next up were the Illinois Principal Association awards. Each year, the IPA asks principals to nominate certified and noncertified staff members that are excelling as leaders within the school.

Melinda Donoho, the first award recipient, is a paraprofessional at Dixon Public Schools. During the teacher shortage “paras have been asked to take on a bigger role,” Dixon High School Assistant Principal John Tate said.

Donoho is one of them who has “gone above and beyond.” Recently, she was assigned to a geometry classroom “which was kind of outside her comfort zone,” but she stepped up to the plate, Tate said.

“It’s been a challenge, but I could understand where they were at and we learned together,” Donoho said.

She helps students who are struggling during class by conducting one-on-one sessions with them and hosts private tutoring sessions outside of class, Tate said.

DHS Principal Jared Shaner introduced the next award recipient, Ryan Deets, who has served as the track coach for over five years and who recently was brought on as a teacher in the science department.

Deets brought the curriculum with him to create a forensic science class, which has been “a huge hit with the students,” Shaner said.

Mason Weigle, a senior at DHS and April’s Student of the Month, said in a video accepting the student of the month designation that forensic science with Deets was his favorite class.

The third IPA leadership award was presented to Amy Scott, Madison Elementary’s district reading specialist, who is “a positive leader who impacts our climate and culture every single day,” said Lindsay Mitchell, dean of students at Madison Elementary.

Mitchell noted theme days and picnic day as fun activities that Scott has started at the school for students and staff outside the classroom.

“You’re only as good as the people around you,” Scott said.

The staff awards concluded by honoring Weigle as DHS Student of the Month and reading the nominees for DEA Teachers of the Month. For April they received “the most nominations that they ever have” with 63 nominations for 46 teachers, Abbey Kelly, a teacher at Madison Elementary, said.