Malvarose named  l990 County  Teacher  of  the  Year

Richard Malvarose, for 25 years a teacher of 70 students in grades 4 to 8 at Benjamin Foxen School in the Blochman Union School District, was named l990 Santa Barbara County  Teacher of the Year.  The announcement was made by County Superintendent of Schools Bill Cirone at the October 5 county  school board meeting.

Mr. Malvarose, one of a number of outstanding countywide nominees for the honor, was selected by a five-person committee composed of teachers and representatives from PTAs  and school boards.

Superintendent Cirone, whose office coordinates the program in Santa Barbara County,  expressed hearty congratulations for Mr. Malvarose's accomplishments in the 160-student Blockman district.

"He is a shining example of all that  is good in teaching.  His impact on his students' lives  embodies all that we hope for throughout our profession:  high standards extending equally to all students, while pushing each to attain a personal best and to love learning for its own sake. These are precisely the traits we hope to encourage in conferring this annual award,"  Cirone said.

For 20 years students in Malvarose's math classes have had a checking account through which paychecks were given based on effort.  His classes have put together the school yearbook since he began the program l6 years ago.  For 20 years his classes have operated a track meet for students in grades K-5, organizing the event,  training younger students, and administering the meet.  Also, his class operates the school student store.

Malvarose created and now supervises the school Gifted and Talented Program.  He has been the school's Mentor Teacher for five years and assistant principal for l8 years.

A graduate of Slippery Rock State Teachers College and Indiana University, with an M.A. in geography, Malvarose has taken advanced courses at Cal State/Sacramento, Cal Poly, and UCSB. 

He chaired the committee that formed a community service organization to support school and community functions, and has served as photographer for Allan Hancock's Dance Department for the past nine years.

He has been an officer in the Santa Maria Northside Little League, developed a pre-school playground, coached a community youth volleyball team, and organized and administered the community "Jump for Heart" fund-raising activities.

In addition to serving as officer in the Santa Maria Indian Guides, he organized and administered a community effort to create the school track-and-field facilities, and he organized numerous fund-raising efforts for the school's eighth grade trips and the Outdoor Education programs.

"After 26 years of teaching, I can see that my greatest contribution...is not the quantity of knowledge that I imparted...but rather that I made every student feel that they had something positive to offer, that they were important, that they could meet the challenge that confronts them every day," Malvarose wrote.

He also received glowing recommendations.  "He can inspire young people to think, to reach inside and find out what they are capable of accomplishing...It is exciting to see it happening," wrote Lolita Barber, of the Benjamin Foxen Days Association, in her letter of support. 

Superintendent/Principal Richard Blanchard was equally enthusiastic.  "Dick is as fresh, innovative, challenging, and effective as he must have been in those earlier years.  Practically all our extracurricular activities exist because of his desire to see things happen for children and his willingness to devote this time and energy to make them happen,"  Blanchard wrote.

 "Adults can bandy words about and make nominations, but children cut right to the point.  I've listened to them and they tell me two most important things--he teaches them to help themselves and he cares...Dick Malvarose makes a difference in children's lives," Blanchard wrote.

County Superintendent Bill Cirone also named two Santa Barbara Teachers of Excellence:  Linda Avanzino, a teacher in the Regional Occupational Program at Santa Ynez Valley High School, and Carol Georgi, a teacher at Delta High School, who runs the Minor Parent Program.

As 1990 Teacher of the Year, Mr. Malvarose's nomination 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.