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Latta honored as
state's outstanding 'paraeducator' "It's very
exciting." said Latta, during an interview at the
school, as she tended to such diverse duties as
fielding phone calls about a canceled basketball
game to putting a cold pack on a child's bruised
hand. "A person doesn't get an award like this
without a bunch of other people helping you get
there." In Latta's case,
without her knowledge, there were quite a few
people working behind the scenes to nominate her
for the award. Whittier students and staff, along
with administrators from the Chugach School
District, all wrote letters on her
behalf. "We're certainly
very excited to have her selected," said Whittier
Community School Head Teacher Doug Penn. "I think
what separates Jan apart from the rest is her
direct relationship with the kids and how she goes
out of her way to put their needs
first." Latta has worked
at the Whittier school for eight years and started
as the breakfast cook. A few months later, when the
school's secretary quit Latta applied for the job
"and away I went." "They give you
this one paragraph job description and it kind of
takes off from there." she said. "You end up doing
a little of everything but that's what keeps it
interesting." Some of the
things Latta has done take her well beyond the
office manager's desk. her work includes organizing
and maintaining a student council program for
grades 3-12 that includes student campaign
speeches, real world election ballots, and voting
booths borrowed from the city. She regularly
tutors students individually and serves as a drama
coach helping the students produce
plays. Latta is in
charge of writing and securing the Artist in
Residence grants that each year bring an Alaskan
artist to the school. She
started school and community recognition
programs such as Student of the Month,
100% Attendance Club, Staff Member of the
Month and a community-wide "Board of
Stars" where folks are honored for doing
something good. She has
also facilitated many "town meetings" that
assisted the community and school to
develop a "shared vision" that led to the
school's award-winning standards-based
educational system. Latta has also
traveled to other Chugach schools to train
teachers and staff on how to manage
student records, activities, and community
communication. "If I
had to list them all, it would take
pages," said Penn. As is
evident by her wide range of duties, the
secretary's job in a small school is very
different than in a larger one. Latta
describes it "as definitely family
oriented." "Because
it's so small you really get the
opportunity to care about each individual
student and work with each student," she
said. State
Education Commissioner Shirley Holloway
will be presenting Latta with a
commemorative plaque for being the state's
outstanding paraeducator during the Alaska
Statewide Special Education Conference's
annual luncheon this week in Anchorage.
She also received free registration and
lodging for the conference and a prize
that brought some chuckles in Whittier -
roundtrip airfare to Anchorage. The
community's tiny airstrip is rarely used
and has no scheduled flights. In
addition to her position as the school's
office manager, Jan and her husband Doug
own Sound Ideas Gallery and Gifts in
Whittier. Latta is also Whittier's "fudge
lady", preparing many different kinds of
fudge in her kitchen for sale in the gift
shop. You may download a scan of
the original newspaper article by clicking
here.
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