Lorber  named  l989 County  Teacher  of  the  Year

Janice Lorber, an art and psychology teacher at Santa Barbara High School for l6 years, was named l989 Santa Barbara County  Teacher of the Year by County Superintendent of Schools Bill Cirone at the October 6 county  school board meeting.

Mrs. Lorber, one of a number of outstanding countywide nominees for the honor, was selected by a seven-person committee composed of active and retired teachers, and representatives from PTAs  and school boards.

She has also received her PTA's Founders Day Award; was nominated for the PTA National Educator of the Year Award, and for three years in a row was voted Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the faculty at Santa Barbara High School.

"She recognizes and nurtures such human dignity and mutual trust.  She is a role model and inspires high standards of behavior.  The world is better for her presence," wrote her principal, William H. Jackson, in a letter of recommendation.

Mrs. Lorber received most of her professional training at the University of California at Santa Barbara:  a B.A. in art, with a minor in Spanish, a secondary teaching credential, a master's degree in counseling psychology, and a pupil personnel service credential.

Additionally, she studied Spanish at Instituto de Allende, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  An accomplished  and widely exhibited artist in the field of jewelry, Mrs. Lorber also  undertook specialized  jewelry study at the Gemological Institute of America. 

She has served as a consultant to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Santa Barbara Girls' Club, the Casa de al Raza, and has been a member of many community committees that deal with helping teens  with their problems.

"Teaching is a profession which requires a great deal of time, energy, compassion, and dedication.  The stress level is high, the pay modest, but I am rewarded many times each day as I see and feel a student's satisfaction of having mastered a particular task or learned a new concept . . . Each  day in teaching is exciting for me,"  Mrs. Lorber wrote in her letter of application.

"With concerted effort, love, and care, I have tried to reach each of my students to help them discover and build their potential," Mrs. Lorber wrote.  

Her professional memberships include American Crafts Council, National Self-Esteem Council, California Peer Counselors Association, Metal Arts Society of Southern California, Society of North American Goldsmiths, National Art Education Association, California Art Education Association.  She has traveled extensively in Europe, Mexico, Africa, Canada, South America, Central America, and the United States.

"I organized a student travel club and raised money to take kids, some of whom had never been out of Santa Barbara, on week-long trips to Mexico...

 "I organized filmmaking projects so that Black, Mexican, and White students could individually document and clarify their feelings on issues facing them.  I also had discussion groups where students of different races met to communicate and learn to appreciate each other."

In fact, Mrs. Lorber's success with a Leadership class at the High School greatly impressed members of her administration and her community.

"Mrs. Lorber...established a Leadership Class consisting of the natural and/or potential student leaders within the various ethnic groups  -- leaders often labeled as "trouble makers" and gang leaders.  Here was a radically different group of students than those involved in student government, organized clubs, and athletics," wrote her principal.

"Open conflict has to date been averted in our school because Mrs. Lorber's Leadership Class fosters her student leaders individually and collectively with positive sense of self-worth.  They understand their responsibilities to themselves and to society and use their leadership skills for the good of the school and community," wrote Mr. Jackson.

"The effect of this class is life-long for, when these natural leaders graduate . . . they are on record as continuing to influence our culturally diverse community in a positive way; helping to avert conflict and to promote a commitment to racial tolerance and understanding between all ages and groups."

As an art teacher, Mrs. Lorber has been a leader at the state and national levels.  She led seminars at the California Art Educational Association state conferences and the National Art Education conferences.  She is currently networking wth 25 teacher in different states to exchange information and slides of student work.  She was also instrumental in developing a handbook on student teaching in the arts, currently in use in methods classes at UCSB.

Wrote one of her students:  "I have seen Mrs. Lorber help incredible amounts of students by listening and being a friend to them, an adult we could confide in and talk to.  She encouraged us to better our relationship with our families and many times helped bring parents and kids together to talk and try and reach a common ground...

"Janice Lorber and the class she has created . . . has taught me the most important things in life:  How to respect and listen to others.  Believe in myself and what I can do to better this world in my own way . . . Her teachings of love and understanding will live on in us and will move us to find the best in ourselves and share it with the world and its people."

Superintendent Cirone, whose office coordinates the program in Santa Barbara County,  expressed hearty congratulations for Mrs. Lorber's accomplishments.  " She exemplifies all this is good in teaching.  Her impact on her students' lives and her comunity's welfare embodies all that we hope for throughout our profession:  high standards and unfaltering results that exceed already high expectations.  These are exactly the traits we hope to encourage in conferring this annual award,"  Cirone said.

Mr. Cirone also named the three Santa Barbara Teachers of Excellence, a new category formed this year in tribute to the outstanding applicants  in the process.    The 1988-89 Teachers of Excellence are:  Cydney Dawson, Righetti High School, Santa Maria Union High School District; Gene Lynch, Vandenberg Middle School, Lompoc Unified School District; and Jack Phreaner, San Marcos High School, Santa Barbara High School District.

"The selection committee was unanimous in its feeling that there were four teachers of Teacher-of-the-Year caliber this year, and the decision was extremely difficult.  To acknowledge the excellence of the nominees, we have decided to form the Teachers of Excellence category for truly outstanding candidates,"  Cirone said.

As 1989 Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Lorber's nominations will be reviewed for consideration as California Teacher of the Year.  The California winner will then be submitted for recognition as National Teacher of the Year.