Darga named County Teacher of Year

“I take much pride in creating a safe, cheerful, loving, and nurturing environment conducive to learning.  Every child who enters my classroom is special in their own unique way, and I enjoy helping them recognize their strengths and watching them overcome their weaknesses.”     —Celeste Darga

 

Celeste Darga, a first grade teacher at Washington School in the Santa Barbara School District for four years, was named 2005-06 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year. The announcement was made by County Superintendent of Schools Bill Cirone at a press conference convened at the regular monthly meeting of the County Board of Education April 7. She will become the county’s official representative on July 1.

Darga, one of a number of outstanding countywide nominees for the honor, was selected by a committee including representatives of teachers, administrators, PTAs, and school boards. Outstanding Educators were also named and will be announced at the May and June County Board of Education meetings in North and South County.

Superintendent Cirone expressed congratulations for Darga’s professionalism, enthusiasm, creativity, and successes in the classroom and in the community. Her teaching style has been described as patient, caring, enthusiastic, creative, animated, respectful, loving, thorough, passionate, and dedicated.

Darga received a B.A. in child development from Cal State Northridge and is working on an M.A. and an administrative credential from UCSB. She earned her teaching credentials from Cal State Northridge.

Darga began teaching at the kindergarten, third, fourth, and fifth grade levels at Pinecrest Preparatory Private School before becoming interim preschool director at Pinecrest. She taught at Gan Israel Hebrew Academy before serving as summer school principal at Montecito Union. She then joined the Santa Barbara School District as a first grade teacher at Cleveland School. Since 1999 she has served as a Reading First instructor of Open Court, Governor’s Reading Professional Development Institutes in the summer. Since 2002 she has been a language arts presenter for SRA McGraw-Hill, and since 1998 she has been a first grade teacher at Harding and Washington Schools in Santa Barbara.

Darga’s recognitions have been numerous. She has received the Principal’s Award, an Honorary PTA Award, Santa Barbara Schools-Mentor Teachers, Santa Barbara County Technology Mentor, and Teacher of the Month.

She has also served on the Leadership and Technology Committees at Washington School, and is responsible for the textbook ordering at the school. She serves as Teacher in Charge when her administrator is absent. She is a countywide Tech Mentor, a BTSA Support provider, a member of her site’s Leadership and Technology Teams, and a School Site Council Representative.

She has trained new teachers, veteran teachers, and administrators in five-day Language Arts trainings, along with training teachers in how they can enrich their curricula using technology. In terms of community involvement, Darga works with local businesses in her school’s neighborhood to help promote literacy in her classroom. She has served as head of fundraising committees in two schools, both raising more than $50,000. 

Wrote Principal Beatrice Cordeiro: “I have known Mrs. Darga to be dependable, responsible, organized, resourceful, flexible, and extremely conscientious. Her enthusiasm is unmatched and her student’s results in all curricular and fine arts speak for themselves. She is the most requested teacher on my site…No one child goes without a snack for the day, without a costume on dress-up days, without books to call their own, without shoes, clothes, or a coat…

Mrs. Darga finds every person’s talent and accepts everyone as the important human being that he or she is. Everyone is equal. Everyone is valued…Mrs. Darga spends hundreds of dollars of her own money every year in her intense desire to ensure equity and yet never mentions the sacrifice…She has a huge heart and is personable, kind, professional, intuitive and knowledgeable…She is what every educator aspires to be.

Wrote parent and colleague Janette Peinado:  “[Celeste] should be considered for this award based on her commitment to the teaching profession, the enlightenment she instills in every child she teaches, and for the encouragement she gives to her peers and parents of her students to help them succeed. We both teach first grade while raising families. I benefited by having two of my children have her as a teacher, and found her to be patient, encouraging, and motivating…I especially applaud her ability to instill a sense of pride in children when they write…My daughter left first grade with the hope of becoming a children’s author some day…Mrs. Darga is continually trying to improve upon her teaching strategies, reaches out to parents to make a positive classroom and school environment, and mentors teachers in the district and beyond on what she has found successful.

Wrote colleague Caroline Walker: “We have worked together as teacher training partners for the Governor’s Reading Institutes…She is a well versed, knowledgeable trainer who brings to the assignment excellent people skills, charm, and the ability to inspire reluctant, inexperienced teachers to begin teaching a new curriculum with confidence.” 

Wrote parent Christan Scheib:  “Mrs. Darga is an outstanding teacher. I am constantly amazed at her commitment to teaching, her enthusiasm, her energy, and her caring… I honestly don’t know how she finds the time to do all she does:  she creates a cohesive, caring atmosphere in the classroom as a whole, and demonstrates genuine caring for each individual as well. Somehow she manages to make the child who is struggling in first grade and the child who is constantly striving for new challenges feel that they are in exactly the right place in her classroom.”

Darga’s nomination will next be reviewed for consideration as California Teacher of the Year in the fall. The California winner will then proceed into consideration for 2006 National Teacher of the Year.

As Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year, Darga will be available to speak countywide, and can be reached at Washington School in the Santa Barbara School District at 963-4331, or at the County Education Office, by calling Louise Fisher at 964-4711, ext. 5281.