{"id":16892,"date":"2026-05-08T15:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T20:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kusd.edu\/ksol\/blog\/news\/recognition-week-2026-spark-awards\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T20:07:14","slug":"recognition-week-2026-spark-awards","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.kusd.edu\/ksol\/news\/recognition-week-2026-spark-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Recognition Week 2026: Spark Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week, KUSD schools were filled with joy as we celebrated our 2026 Spark Award winners! Through surprise announcements and building celebrations, we honored staff who live our core values and go above and beyond for students, families and colleagues.<\/p>\n<p>Join us in congratulating our 2026 Spark Award winners and thanking them for the difference they make every day! &#x1f44f;<\/p>\n<ul class=\"spacedlist\">\n<li>Dawn Antrim, Kindergarten Teacher, Bose<\/li>\n<li>Michelle Ishmael, Adult Graduation Test Teacher, Bradford<\/li>\n<li>Janette Shumaker, Administrative Support, Bradford<\/li>\n<li>Kyle Sinclair, Special Education Teacher, Bradford<\/li>\n<li>Charelle Brown, 3rd Grade Teacher, Brass<\/li>\n<li>Meghan Fisher, Special Education Teacher, Bullen<\/li>\n<li>Hannah Tryban, ESL Teacher, Bullen<\/li>\n<li>Deanna Hawlish, Administrative Support, Chavez<\/li>\n<li>Gina Torres, Administrative Specialist, Curtis Strange<\/li>\n<li>Rachel Walecki, Physical Education Teacher, Curtis Strange<\/li>\n<li>Nicole Wickersheim, Special Education Teacher, Curtis Strange<\/li>\n<li>Jo Ann Hughes, Benefits and Leave Specialist, Educational Support Center<\/li>\n<li>Erin Roethe, Data Analyst, Educational Support Center<\/li>\n<li>Danielle Kohler, 4th Grade Teacher, Forest Park<\/li>\n<li>Lou Ann Daniels, Instructional Coach, Frank<\/li>\n<li>Kimberly Krohn, Instructional Coach, Grant<\/li>\n<li>Jason Shike, 5th Grade Teacher, Grewenow<\/li>\n<li>Kevin Aronin, Special Education Teacher, Harborside<\/li>\n<li>Rita Allen, School Counselor, Harborside<\/li>\n<li>Allyson Lauer, ESL Teacher, Harvey<\/li>\n<li>Dawn Clayton, Special Education Teacher, Hillcrest<\/li>\n<li>Sarah Antczak, Spanish Teacher, Indian Trail<\/li>\n<li>Patrick Connors, Physics Teacher, Indian Trail<\/li>\n<li>Michelle Zazula, ESL Teacher, Indian Trail<\/li>\n<li>Anita Galusha, 2nd Grade Teacher, Jeffery<\/li>\n<li>Nayda Meulbroek, Bilingual Kindergarten Teacher, KSOL<\/li>\n<li>Lisa Dittlof, Music Teacher, LakeView K-8 Academy<\/li>\n<li>Megan Panasewicz, 1st Grade Teacher, LakeView K-8 Academy<\/li>\n<li>Kathryn Milschewski, English Teacher, LakeView Technology Academy<\/li>\n<li>Jessica Freng, Math Intervention Specialist, Lance<\/li>\n<li>Demere Kentcy, Educational Support Professional, Lance<\/li>\n<li>Kassendra Talley, English Teacher, Lance<\/li>\n<li>Chad Dahlk (Administrator of the Year), Middle School Principal, Lance<\/li>\n<li>Heather Gaddy, Special Education Teacher, Mahone<\/li>\n<li>Lorena Rasmussen, English Teacher, Mahone<\/li>\n<li>Stacey Zwirlein, Band Teacher, Mahone<\/li>\n<li>Louisa Rizzo, 1st Grade Teacher, Nash<\/li>\n<li>Brian Zielsdorf, 5th Grade Teacher, Pleasant Prairie<\/li>\n<li>Andrew Werkema, Kindergarten Teacher, Prairie Lane<\/li>\n<li>Alicia Chapa, Administrative Specialist, Reuther<\/li>\n<li>Dawn Propsom, 4th Grade Teacher, Roosevelt<\/li>\n<li>Amanda Spaulding, Dean, Ruth Harman Academy<\/li>\n<li>Kimberley Parker, 3rd Grade Teacher, Somers<\/li>\n<li>Raquel Flesch, 2nd Grade Teacher, Southport<\/li>\n<li>Dorothy Maccanelli, Math Teacher, Tremper<\/li>\n<li>Charley Tocci, English Teacher, Tremper<\/li>\n<li>Charlene Smith, Technology Education Teacher, Tremper<\/li>\n<li>Kimberly D&#8217;Angelo, Special Education Teacher, Washington<\/li>\n<li>Todd DeBoer, Orchestra Teacher, Washington<\/li>\n<li>Andrew Papadolias, ESL Teacher, Washington<\/li>\n<li>Joan Oehlberg, Intervention Specialist, Whittier<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16893,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[67],"class_list":["post-16892","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-district"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kusd.edu\/ksol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kusd.edu\/ksol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kusd.edu\/ksol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kusd.edu\/ksol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kusd.edu\/ksol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kusd.edu\/ksol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}