Norton Honors 2006 D.C. Teacher of the Year with Congressional Resolution - May 23, 2006

Norton Honors 2006 D.C. Teacher of the Year with Congressional Resolution And Pledges to Get Congress to Rebuild Our Schools
May 23, 2006

Washington, DC- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a congressional resolution recognizing Kim Burke-Ables, a science teacher at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, on her selection as the District of Columbia Teacher of the Year for 2006, and “congratulating her for her exceptional dedication to the students and her excellence as a teacher.” Burke-Ables has been teaching at Banneker for three years and has received praise for developing creative ways to motivate her students to learn and understand biology, life sciences, human anatomy and physiology, and chemistry. Norton, who went to Banneker when it was a junior high school, said that she was pleased that, “Banneker’s excellence is attributed in no small part to the excellence of Kim Burke-Ables and others like her, although the school building looks as it did when I was a seventh grade kid and Banneker was a junior high school.” Norton recently announced that she intends to make a priority for the coming year federal tax credits for school bonds so that school systems can more quickly rebuild or repair old schools like Banneker. “Banneker’s excellence despite the limitations and the age of its facilities is the inspiration any of us should need to make old schools like Banneker fit for what Kim Burke-Ables and other teachers do inside.”

In honoring Burke-Ables, Norton also expressed appreciation to Banneker Principal Anita Berger for providing an environment for enriched academic growth and development and to other D.C. principals and teachers “for their commitment and service to the education of the city’s children.” The resolution congratulated Banneker’s designation in the May 21, 2006 edition of NewsweekMagazine as one of the nation’s best high schools.

Burke-Ables was among elected officials, educators and residents who recently attended a Capitol Hill reception Norton sponsored in recognition of 2005 National Teacher of the Year Jason Kamras of Sousa Middle School, who preceded Burke-Ables as the D.C. Teacher of the Year. Kamras is the only D.C. teacher to win the competition for National Teacher of the Year, the oldest and most prestigious national honors program that focuses public attention on excellence in teaching.

This is not the first time Burke-Ables has received prestigious educational awards. In 2004, she was selected to work as an educational consultant to the National Academies of Science and won a TEACH Fellowship (Teaching Educators Agriculture and Conservation Holistically) with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to travel to Ghana, West Africa. In 2003, the Milken Family Foundation gave the science teacher the District of Columbia Milken Educator Award.