Leonardos earns Educator Award
Published on October 4th, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - Still speechless more than an hour after the encounter, South School Principal Nick Leonardos knew he had been bamboozled.
The victim of a tight-knit conspiracy, the nine-year Stoneham administrator had been tricked not only by past and current superiors, former Asst. Superintendent Joe Casey and Superintendent Joseph Connelly, some of the state’s most powerful political players, Education Commissioner David Driscoll and Lt. Governor Kerry Healey, also had a hand.
And so after he finally unraveled the secret, or rather the secret was unraveled for him, the normally gregarious administrator admittedly had little to say.
“I probably should have known something,” the South School Principal reflected, a little over an hour after he was clued-in. “I don’t know what to say. It’s not going to sink in for a while.”
“If there’s ever a time to be speechless, it’s when you’re surprised and told you’ve won $25,000 out of the clear blue sky,” Leonardos commented Tuesday afternoon.
In a top-secret ceremony held at the South School gymnasium Tuesday morning, Driscoll, Healey, and various elected town and state officials informed the unsuspecting Stoneham Principal that he had been named a Milken Family Foundation Family Educator award.
The prestigious honor, given to only two educators across the Commonwealth and 100 recipients across the nation this year, is known as “The Oscars of Teaching”.
Since the award’s 1985 inception, 2,200 principals and teachers have received the recognition, intended to reward, attract and retain top educator’s in the nation’s public schools.
Including a $25,000 no-strings-attached check, Leonardos also won an expense-paid trip to Los Angeles for a conference and award ceremony, as well as membership in a network of previous recipients.
“Along with your parents, your teachers and principals are the most important people in your lives. And we don’t think we say thank-you to educators often enough,” Milken Foundation representative Jane Foley, addressing a contingent of guests, dignitaries, and fourth and fifth graders attending the ceremony.
“We are so fortunate to have educators like your principal working with kids in our schools. It’s an amazing honor to have our schools test top in the country. And with principals like Mr. Leonardos, we can raise them even higher,” the Lt. Governor said in separate remarks.
According to Mass. Department of Education Commissioner David Driscoll, who also congratulated Leonardos on the honor, Tuesday’s ceremony was also held to mark the state’s recent ranking as the highest scoring state in the country on fourth and eight grade reading and math tests.
The recent announcement, which Driscoll characterized as historic, marks the first time in U.S. history that one state has topped all others in both levels.
Visibly flustered after being named a recipient of the Milken Family Foundation Educators award, Leonardos congratulated his support staff, whom he attributed to his success.
Reiterating that belief later in the afternoon, the humble South School Principal again tipped his hat to the elementary schools’ teachers and staff members, arguing that they were the ones who truly deserved the award.
“It’s a great honor. You just wake-up and go to work everyday and then all of a sudden, somebody says you’re getting something special. And I don’t think I deserve anything special,” reflected Leonardos, saying his true accomplishment was being lucky enough to “land” at South School.
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