Peetz Teacher Recognized as Teacher of the Year

The Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented recently named Peetz teacher Leslie Raffelson as Educator of the Year.

She was presented the award during the annual conference in Loveland, Co., Monday, Oct. 22.

The George T. Betts Award requires two to three nominations from different people. In his nomination, Peetz School District Superintendent Mark Collard commended Raffelson for the many duties she is involved in.

"As is the case in most small schools, Leslie wears multiple hats. In addition to her normal classroom duties, she is also our director of technology, our art teacher, a class sponsor and our gifted and talented coordinator," Collard said in his nomination.

Collard says Raffelson is an advocate for exceptional students, and has designed and coordinated the gifted program. He says her initiative and innovation has been fundamental to the success of our exceptional students.

Additionally, she supports classroom teachers with instructional advice and material resources. She has also coordinated the Peetz school's participation in regional robotics competition where two of the school's three teams placed in the top five at the state level. She teaches a high school technology technology class that helps with skills including coding, three dimensional printing, mechanical assemblies' fabrication, and real world communication skills.

Collard calls Raffelson a "humble educator deserving of this recognition."