Allison Cyr, a third-grade teacher at Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School in Indio, has been named one of the California Teachers of the Year, an honor bestowed on just five teachers each year.
“I don’t know if you can put into words the feeling,” she told the Desert Sun. “I came from a family of educators, and you don’t do it for the award, you do it because you love it. You know the saying, `You do what you love and you never have to work a day in your life’ I think that’s partially true, but when you love something you do put in work. Your heart and soul gets poured into it.”
The 31-year-old Cyr is a 2008 Indio High School grad, who has taught at LBJ for seven years. She has mastered the difficult balancing act required of teachers these days of getting the most out of her students, while being nimble to changes in technology, and keeping a positive attitude.
It’s not easy to win this award. Cyr first had to be named a top teacher in the Desert Sands Unified School District and then in Riverside County. Then for the state award, the 60-or-so county winners are placed in a pool, and from that five winners are chosen, the Desert Sun reported.
The principal at her elementary school was not surprised.
“I cannot think of many people more deserving of this honor than Allison Cyr,” Brad Fisher said. “Ms. Cyr is the consummate professional, she fosters high expectations, and knows how to build relationships within the school and the LBJ community.”
The other four award recipients are Jim Klipfel of William S. Hart High Union School District in Los Angeles County, Keisa Brown from Riverside Unified School District, Laura E. Gomez Contreras from Santa Ana Unified School District, and Nora Wynne of Humboldt County’s McKinleyville Union School District.