News Releases
 February Employee of the Month:
Allison Bartnicke, Third-grade teacher,
Frank C. Whiteley School
When Allison Bartnicke began her student teaching in fourth grade at Frank C. Whiteley School, she didn’t anticipate that she’d just stay on—but that’s what happened. On the Monday after completing her student teaching, she stepped right in to a full-time job in a Whiteley second-grade classroom when another teacher had to leave unexpectedly mid-year. “I am so fortunate,” she says. “I’ve never even had to go on a formal job interview.” She’s now in her fourth year as a third-grade teacher.
Her favorite thing about teaching—aside from the students, of course—is that every day is different, even when the schedule is the same, she says. “I couldn’t see myself behind a desk doing the same thing every day,” Allison notes. She also likes the closure at the end of each school year and starting fresh every August.
Allison has served on many committees. She’s been a building representative to the Classroom Teachers Council for the past three years, and at the district level, served on the space shuttle and tuition reimbursement committees. At Whiteley, she’s currently on the staff development committee and the principal selection committee and serves as grade-level chair. She’s been on the START team for at-risk students, the walk-a-thon committee, and she is a co-sponsor of the school’s Scrabble Club. She initiated a fund-raising project for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which in its first year, brought in $4,992.
She grew up in Schaumburg, where her family still lives. She earned her B.A. in psychology from Eastern Illinois University, then made a career direction switch, earning a master’s degree in teaching from National-Louis University. “I just kind of fell into it, although my mom always points out that she told me while I was in high school that I’d be a good teacher,” she explains.
Although she says she’s not yet ready to leave the classroom, she is hoping to start taking classes next year to earn her Type 75 certificate in anticipation of someday becoming a school administrator.
Allison enjoys spending time with her parents and sister here and with her brother and his family in Arkansas. She spends part of her summer vacations at her brother’s lake house in Arkansas, where she enjoys water sports and games with her nieces and nephews. She also enjoys traveling to spend time with friends who live in other places.
Allison will be recognized at the February 11, 2004, Board of Education meeting, to be held at Plum Grove Junior High School at 7 p.m.
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