Fairwood Elementary staff goes beyond the call of duty during quarantine
Matthew Crapo has been the principal at Fairwood Elementary for 5 years now — a job he calls a privilege.
The staff has been working hard to ensure the students are still learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My staff have all gone above and beyond during these unprecedented times; most of which happens behind the scenes and cannot be scored,” Crapo said. “This truly has brought out the best in us and shows that we care so much more about the person and their well being than a test score.”
“Fairwood is home to the most ambitious group of teachers; filled with passion and love for the community,” he said.
He named some examples of the educators who have helped the school push through the chaos of closing down in a pandemic.
Denise Perkins, translator
“Denise is our translator but does so much more. With Fairwood being about 30 percent Hispanic, Denise plays a vital role. Denise will be given a document and a short amount of time to turn it around and send out to the community. She makes multiple phone calls every day to check in on students, she will Zoom with students in the community, and work with community partners to make sure the Hispanic community has what it needs during these times,” Crapo said. “Denise puts her battle with cancer aside every day to work with our staff, the students, and the community. She is simply amazing and has a heart of gold.”
He said Perkins is one of the “most wonderful, caring and compassionate” people he knows.
Ty Captain, 2nd grade teacher
Crapo said Captain takes his passion of technology far beyond the classroom.
“During the past 2 months, Ty has been able to create multiple videos for the students that demonstrate the passion that the staff have for them. Ty would routinely send out emails asking for staff to record themselves working from home, talking with students, working on projects, and simply showing their passion from outside of the classroom,” he said. “Ty would then take his time to compile all of the clips to various videos and send them out to the community. This took a great deal of time but he did this multiple times throughout the pandemic. His work really kept the school and community tied closely together and he did this multiple times for the team,” he said.
Holly Mayer, building secretary
“Holly truly runs many of the aspects that take place throughout the school year. Holly was able to work on many of the initiatives, timelines, communications to the community, schedules, and simply making sure that the processes I came up with would actually work. Holly was available at any time during this process and worked tirelessly on bridging the gap between the school and the community. Holly is able to maintain an absolute positive demeanor during a hectic pandemic.”
Crapo says Mayer’s type of personality is priceless, and she is “a teammate that makes all of Hamilton proud.”
JIll Fuller, kitchen manager
Fuller was tasked with a new style of food delivery, Crapo said.
“Jill has to order the food, work with her team to prepare the food, then work endlessly to get the food into kids’ hands. Since this has never been done before, I am sure Jill had anxiety and worried about how to make this happen. Every week, the team worked closely with each other, wearing PPE, taking temps daily, and working in an extremely different environment. At the end of the day, every student that wanted food was given food. It all came together and proves that the work that goes on behind the scenes can really make the difference and build a program. We thank Jill and her team for making all this happen,” Crapo said.