Retired Poway Unified board member honored
A former school board member and a student teacher are among those recently honored by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International’s local Eta Chi Chapter.
Poway resident Penny Ranftle received the Community Service Award for her life-long dedication to children and education. Ranftle provided over 20 years of service to the Poway Unified School District as an active parent, PTA officer, and member of the Board of Education. During that time she served as president of the San Diego County School Boards Association and was a delegate to the California School Boards Association.
In addition, Ranftle was involved with San Diego Junior Achievement and was instrumental in the development of BizTown, a comprehensive approach to financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship.
The Outstanding Student Teacher honoree was Brianna Buffington, a student at the University of San Diego. Buffington student taught kindergarten at Stone Ranch Elementary in 4S Ranch under master teacher Kris Hankins.
Others honored by the local chapter included:
Dian Self, who was named Outstanding Chapter Member for her contributions as programs vice president and her current role as community service chair. The chapter’s latest project is collecting items for the Butterfly Boutique at the Monarch School in downtown San Diego. The boutique supplies homeless students with toiletries and clothing so that they can feel good about themselves when they go to the school. Self also organized and participated in a literacy and fundraising project at the Barnes and Noble in Carmel Mountain Ranch, where $300 in books were donated to school libraries in the Poway Unified School District.
Suzanne Roy, who received the Professional Service Award, for her project “Our Stories Connect Us” that improved the literacy, teaching practices, and school climate in an elementary school in the rural Cordoba area of Argentina. Roy provided professional development and coaching to teachers in the gradual release of responsibility model and facilitated a Character Counts! workshop for teachers and student leaders, as well as helping with the school-wide implementation. The project also honored the voice of English language learners in a rural school in Sonoma County as they communicated with their Argentinian counterparts via Skype and email.
Delta Kappa Gamma Society International promotes professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education. For more information, visit www.dkg-etachi.org.
