Curtis Butler
5th Grade Teacher
Penn Elementary

Curtis goes above and beyond to develop relationships with kids every year. Not just the kids in his class but any kid in the building. Having worked with Curtis for several years, I have gotten to know him as a trusted colleague and have always been impressed with his generosity. He always made time to speak to my kids about Harry Potter, books, or answer the never-ending stream of questions about his class pet, a gecko.

Student shout outs: 

"He is funny and lets us have fun, and he dances."

"He is super funny, nice, and fun! He is the best teacher I ever had!"

"He has a very good sense of humor."

"He is very nice, and kind of funny, also he dances."

"He is funny, great at teaching, one the BEST teachers!"

"He is very patient with us. He does a lot of fun things he doesn't have to do." 

"He's a good teacher because he is just plain amazing."

"He helps people if they are struggling with math." 

"He is very kind and very nice."

"He is awesome! He's very chill and lets us have fun."

"He is fun and funny."

"He is very nice."

"He is nice."

“He is funny and keeps learning fun. He lets us have classroom jobs."

"He helps us with things we do not understand, and he helps us in an understandable way. Also, he is funny." 

Shamari Scott
English Teacher
City High

Mr. Scott creates interesting and engaging lessons that challenge students to read books about people from demographic groups that differ from their own. Reading books about diverse characters helps students develop empathy and compassion for all.

Mr. Scott also encourages students to read books by authors from different backgrounds. This is important because it exposes students to a variety of perspectives. My daughter comes home from school excited about the things she learns from Mr. Scott.

I also appreciate Mr. Scott's ability to develop rapport with his students. He works individually with students who are struggling to help them stay on track to meet their academic goals. Mr. Scott is an asset to our school, and an overall fabulous teacher!

Shelby Bryce
School Counselor
ICCSD Online, Liberty High

"Ms. Bryce joined the Iowa City Community School District this year. Shelby devoted enormous amounts of time prior to the school year beginning to support ICCSD Online. This was due, in part, to the explosion in the number of students enrolling into the online program as the school year approached. She worked tirelessly to sign students up for courses, review transcripts, and provide counsel to students. As the year has progressed Shelby continues to do this as enrollment periods have reopened and new students come into the program.

Shelby balances all of this along with scheduling, registration, mental health needs, graduation progress checks, etc. for both the online program as well as Liberty High School. Shelby has done amazing work this year and we are so thankful for her and grateful to her!"

Jackie Biger
Teacher Librarian
Lemme Elementary

"Mrs. Biger is the kindest most funny librarian ever. She gets me interested in books I don`t think I will like but end up loving. She makes the library so fun and makes me want to be there for every second of every day. Mrs. Biger has an amazing style and knows what kids love. For instance she has super fun chairs like the bean bag chairs, the egg chairs, and you can’t forget the cave. WE LOVE U MRS BIGER!"

"Mrs. Biger is a sweet and helpful librarian. She helps me a lot, smiles a lot and wears GREAT dresses. The most important part is, she is always funny, and has a great sense of humor."

"I was struggling to find a book that I could enjoy reading.  Mrs. Biger went out of her way to find me a book that I enjoyed and it read it to me because it was an audio book. She is also very fun and athletic. She will come out to recess and play basketball with me one on one.  She was the first teacher to have ever played basketball with me and that was really meaningful to me. She is the kind of teacher that leaves a lasting impression and will not forget her!"

"She is a great leader when we are in class.  Every time we do something wrong she says kindly not to do it, she does it in a way that is not embarrassing for students.  Making us all feel very comfortable and relaxed in her class.
There has never been a time that Mrs. Biger is not helping myself or another student, showing how she is always there for the betterment of her students.
She makes boring learning fun, she is always coming up with new activities and maker space ideas so that we are truly enjoying the learning we are doing.  She also makes many things into a game, which makes learning fun and always keeps up laughing in her class!"