Staff members Linda Allen, Sheila Briggs, Ed Holmes, Donna Kennedy, Jeff Maas and Mary Watson-Peterson plus 11 high school seniors earned honors recently.

• Business education teacher Donna Kennedy (right) of La Follette High has won the 2008 Governor's Financial Literacy Award. She's one of five individuals to receive the award which recognizes excellence in promoting financial literacy among Wisconsin citizens.

  Nominated by La Follette teacher June Anderson, Kennedy won the award for organizing the first Mad City Money Reality Stores last fall. In this budgeting simulation for La Follette and Memorial high school students, they were inserted into a "real life" budgeting situation in order to develop their decision making/problem solving skills with respect to personal finance.

  Over 60 volunteers from numerous businesses and government agencies staffed the merchant stations to guide the students through the simulation.

• Three MMSD principals and an administrator have earned Wisconsin's 10-year Master Educator License in 2007, according to the DPI. Principals Linda Allen, Chavez Elementary; Sheila Briggs, Lead Principal; Ed Holmes, West High; along with Mary Watson Peterson, reading specialist, earned the credential.

  The three principals were among the first cadre of Wallace Fellows, while Watson Peterson earned her credential through the WI Master Educator Assessment Process. All 31 Wisconsin educators who earned the license had to develop a portfolio that included work samples, a video of exemplary practice, student work, and other supporting information that document contributions to the profession and improved student learning.

• Jeff Maas, 2-3 grade teacher at Sandburg ES, was recently recognized as News 3's Topnotch Teacher for February. Student Hayden Boyce nominated Jeff for this honor.

  Jeff's career in the MMSD began in 1990 and has taken him to Lincoln, Falk, and Sandburg Schools. In regard to the many students his teaching has touched over the years, the reporter mentioned Jeff's "student-centered integrated approach to education" and "his passion for the outdoors." See the video report.

• Eleven of the 40 Wisconsin 12th graders selected as candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program are from the Madison School District.

  They are: Erika Egner, Daniel Greenwald, Brian Ji, Maren Raab, Alex Trevino and Louis Wilson from Memorial High School, and Stuart Ballard, Ruth Davis, Reuben Henriques, Jacob Jensen and Laurel Ohm from West High School.

  These students are eligible to be named semifinalists and Scholars, one of the nation's highest honors for high school students.

• Madison East, Memorial and West High Schools are among 14 high schools in the state with one or more students in the class of 2007 earning a top composite score of 36 on the ACT college admissions exam, according to the Wisconsin ACT State Organization and the ACT.

  In Wisconsin, 18 high school graduates earned the 36 score. While the news release recognizes the students and the high schools, the Madison School District also recognizes all the schools — elementary, middle and high — as well as the students' parents and guardians for this honor.

  Five MMSD students out of the 18 were identified in September of 2006, when the students were honored at a celebration, which was reported on by both daily newspapers. See the first and the second report. A sixth Madison student scoring a 36 is a member of the class of 2008.

Organizers and major sponsors of the Mad City Money Reality Store simulation: Dave Thomas, Memorial High School; Josie Matuszak, Heartland Credit Union; Donna Kennedy, La Follette High School; First Lady Jessica Doyle; Robin Marohn, Heartland Credit Union; Bill Wilcox, CBM Credit Education Foundation.