For the month of May, we're showcasing Educator Appreciation Month. During this time, we're introducing the community to our hard-working educators to show all they do for Washoe County students.
This week we showcase two excellent educators, Dena Bodecker, who works in family community engagement, and Kate Phillips, the dean of students, both from Desert Skies Middle School.
Dena Bodecker told us she wasn't a teacher starting out, but she received the role she's in now because she's always been a very proud mother and volunteer at her childrens' schools.
She started volunteering at Lois Allen Elementary, where she put in so many hours that the principal came up to her with words of encouragement, saying the families loved her so much that she should make it her full-time job.
Bodecker says, "I feel like I'm kind of the phone book of the school. When things happen it's always 'ask 'Dena she knows.'"
She also helps with dress code, traffic, registering students, family resources, and everything else anyone coming into the school may need, really taking the role of a jack-of-all-trades.
But it's the students she really wants to be there for, because she sees so much of herself within them.
"I feel like it's what I wish I had when I was them," she said.
"I quit school in the 10th grade because I didn't feel a connection in the building, and so now teaching kids how to connect with teachers and sitting in on their meetings when they have meetings and supporting the teacher when she needs it, but also supporting the mom because she has a voice as well," she said.
Since Bodecker didn't feel this connection when she was younger, she feels it's important to be the connection now for the students.
"We talk about our attendance. For me, working with the kids in attendance, they say, 'I just didn't want to come today,' but here's the thing: what I know is that every day I stayed home when I was a kid, it made coming back harder, because they've all learned all this stuff and I don't know anything, so it feels like being a fish swimming upstream."
Her hope is to make the school a place where the students want to be.
"It means a lot to me because if I could go back and redo what happened when I was a kid, I might be in a different place," she said.
Kate Phillips has also helped lead the charge this year to bring up school-wide attendance.
To do this, she says it's all about being clear and fair.
Phillips explains, "We have a district discipline manual that we follow, but also having a clear plan for what happens first and getting the teachers involved because so many things can be taken care of at the classroom level."
Attendance grew from a 65% daily average to 79.5% in one school year alone due to their teamwork at the school.
Bodecker says her principal told her education is the ticket, and she tries to remember that every day while she's having conversations with students.
She's proud to be a successful role model to not just students, but teachers and parents as well.
"When you walk in and they walk up and hug you when they need you, when they look in the office and they're specifically hunting you down for probably the most ridiculous reason, but you're important to them."
Bodecker says through her job and being a mom, she has also passed down those lessons learned to her own kids, grandchildren, and the students at Desert Skies Middle School.
"This is what you do; this is how you treat teachers when you're in their classroom, and you may not always agree with them, but you always respect them."
She says these lessons are learned now so students will be able to function in society outside of the classroom.
"We just need families, and we need them to come up here and see what we see and love them as much as we do," she said.
Bodecker says she feels appreciated by the families and students and wants them to know that teachers are always on the job, even on their days off, so showing your appreciation is important.
"I'm thankful and blessed to be able to be in the first middle school in the valley and work with some amazing people," she said.
As for Phillips, her role is discipline for over 900 students at Desert Skies Middle School, but she's taken on much more than just discipline for the students. She also manages celebrations, like organizing food trucks for those who reach the honor roll.
Phillips says it's also important to get involved with the families too in her position, so they're not just calling about bad days but also sharing the good days too.
"The hardest part is some of the conversations with families and really helping families to understand that just because there's a bad choice doesn't mean it's a bad day or a bad kid," she said.
She says it's all about coming up with a plan together; she gets to know all of the kids on a deeper level, almost like another parent would.
"I have told students a lot, like, 'I'm your mom while you're here.' I have my own daughter, and I'm a mom at home, but it's also my job to take care of you guys here like you are my kids," she said.
Phillips was a teacher for 12 years before she took on an administrative role and says her biggest struggle now is she doesn't always get to see kids on their best days like you would in the classrooms, but working with kids and families to have those positive relationships helps.
"Hanging out with the kids in the hallways and making those relationships like, 'Hey, I remember your brother from 5 years ago. How's he doing? And just getting to know the kids and being intentional about my relationships with them," she said.
At Desert Middle School, they have a unique bell system. Their bells come with a little jam session for 45 seconds.
Phillips explains, "One of the things that we realized was maybe having 900 kids out for a three-minute passing wasn't helping everyone be successful in getting to class on time, so only our kids that have an elective that got a little sticker on the back of their ID leave for the full three-minute passing period; the music is playing right now because all the other kids who have another core class are going right next door, so 45 seconds is plenty for them to get from class to class."
But even this 45-second jam session teaches discipline.
"How can you be accountable for your own behavior and your own choices? So, it's really rewarding for me to see a student who may have struggled making good choices or positive choices make that growth and start taking ownership," she said.
To Phillips, teacher appreciation is showing what a big role educators play in a child's life.
"We're with them for 6 hours a day," she said. "We get to see them in maybe a different light than a parent might get to see them, and we get to know them in a different way, so I think it's just appreciating the positive impact that powerful educators can have on kids."
She says a quick email, text, or thank you can go a long way to show your appreciation, or just showing up to kids' events for the school shows appreciation.
Both Bodecker and Phillips have similar mantras they follow.
Phillips says to be the change. She adds, "I want to see the kids grow and improve. How can I model that for them, and how can I support them?"
Bodecker goes on to say, "Be the change that you wish to see in the world."
