The following is a press release from the North Central Educational Service District:

The North Central Educational Service District (NCESD) has selected the recipients of the 2022 Regional Teacher of the Year and 2021 Regional Classified School Employee of the Year for the North Central Washington region: Tina Nicpan-Brown (Wenatchee School District) and Adriana Vanbianchi (Methow Valley School District), respectively.

Both Nicpan-Brown and Vanbianchi are now eligible for state honors through the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. State winners will be announced in September.

Regional Teacher of the Year - Tina Nicpan-Brown
Tina Nicpan-Brown was selected by the regional selection committee as the 2022 Regional Teacher of the Year. Nicpan-Brown is a 5th grade remote learning educator at the Wenatchee Internet Academy for the Wenatchee School District (WSD).

Nicpan-Brown leads her classroom instruction by focusing on drawing connections to the students' family interactions, culture and the community. She begins with a science standard and then incorporates reading, math, writing, and social studies standards. She then layers in engineering, art, technology and inclusionary practices. Finally, she involves the community with field experiences, career connections, family involvement and expert interviews.

“By looking at my instructional design in layers, I am better able to tap into individual student curiosities and experience,” Nicpan-Brown explained. “I have observed that students lose so much of their natural curiosity when subjects are taught separately and by skill. Making connections to students’ everyday lives is critical in order to experience positive outcomes.”

During the past year, Nicpan-Brown was given the opportunity to explore creative ways to engage families and students through “Road School”. Providing instruction via Zoom, Nicpan-Brown traveled to different locations and taught from the road, introducing students to experiences they may not otherwise have access to. Students “visited” the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, spoke with a survivor of the Japanese American Exclusion Camps, opened lock doors of military forts, and climbed the stairs of a lighthouse.

“The entire time they were engaged, exposed to new ideas and places, and most importantly, shared their connection with their families,” Nicpan-Brown said. “Families want to be part of their children’s’ lives, but unfortunately for some families time will always be a major factor against their involvement. Providing students with project-based learning opportunities allows them to interact with their families when most convenient. Applying basic concepts of the standards to real life learning in their home or neighborhood provides family interactions and increases student engagement.”

Nicpan-Brown is one of three elementary science teachers in Washington who have been selected as a state-level finalist for the 2020 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the highest honor bestowed on science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computer science teachers.

In her 20 years as an educator with 17 years of service at Wenatchee School District, Nicpan-Brown has brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars of
grant money and STEM opportunities on a district-wide level. Just during the 2020-21 school year, she partnered with University of Washington and University of Illinois, Code.org, Cascadia Conservation District with the Kids in the Forest, Wenatchee Arts Education Consortium, and more.

“I tell my students I have a simple job,” Nicpan-Brown said. “I promise a safe learning environment for them to explore. Usually they laugh or tilt their heads and try to decide if I am telling the truth. It’s really that simple to me. I believe an educator only needs three things to provide a student a well-rounded educational experience: a positive relationship, exposure to real-world experiences, and the encouragement to be curious.”

Regional Classified School Employee of the Year - Adriana Vanbianchi
Adriana Vanbianchi was selected by the regional selection committee as the 2021 Classified School Employee of the Year. Vanbianchi serves as the school nurse for all schools in the Methow Valley School District.

From the age of 19 and working at a drug rehab center for homeless kids in Nicaragua, Vanbianchi has dedicated her career to improving the health of other people. Vanbianchi credits her value for human health and equity along with her experience working various jobs -- like a wilderness instructor for at-risk youth, firefighter, and an emergency room nurse -- have prepared her to lead Methow Valley School District during a pandemic.

“Overall my job is about ensuring the health and well-being of students and staff,” Vanbianchi said. “Being a school nurse during the pandemic is an undertaking that I wouldn’t have wished on anyone, but I have to admit, I have enjoyed the challenge because I know what a difference our school makes in the lives of our students, community, and economy.”

Due to low case rates in the immediate area, Methow Valley School District had the unique position of choosing to open their schools for in-person learning or remote learning at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.
“Feedback from our community showed us that we should commit to a safe in-person school year,” Vanbianchi explained. “School staff immediately convened to figure out how we would do this unprecedented work. We all had different areas of expertise and mine was sharply focused on the health and safety of my community.”

Vanbianchi was tasked with keeping students and staff safe, informing the community, developing a COVID testing program, contact tracing, and more, Matt Hinckley, Liberty Bell High School teacher, explained in the nomination form.

“What we’ve been able to do -- teach students in-person -- would be impossible without Adriana’s competence, hard work, and dedication,” Hinckley added. “When positive cases happened in the community, her diligent contact tracing and the trust that families put in her prevented school outbreak. When questions about vaccine availability swirled, she pushed for access in our isolated, rural community.”
The Methow Valley is one of the largest, rural regions in Washington state, which means healthcare services are often far and few between. Vanbianchi quickly got to work leveraging leadership, resources, and community support.

“In January when the news announced that school staff wouldn’t be eligible for the vaccine, I started with advocacy by writing letters to Washington political leaders championing the argument that school staff should be vaccinated,” Vanbianchi said. “My next step was to lean into the resources, so in collaboration with our local EMS service, hospitals and clinics, I took a leadership role in organizing vaccination clinics for in-phase community members.”

Within four days of school staff becoming eligible for the vaccine, 85 percent of Methow Valley School District school staff received one or more doses of their COVID vaccine. But Vanbianchi credits this effort to the partnerships she has fostered over the past year.

She quickly made partnerships with local clinics to provide testing and medical consultation with their medical directors. With the help of Kiwanis Club members, hand washing stations were built over all three school campuses. In addition, Vanbianchi engaged the local EMS agency through weekly meetings which led to more access to testing and vaccination clinics. To date, these partnerships have resulted in thousands of vaccinations given in school district gymnasiums.

Vanbianchi hopes the past year demonstrated the value of clinical leadership inside school buildings. “During a normal school year it can be easy to forget the importance of the school nurse,” she added. “My hope is that people see my work as a school nurse as something that mobilizes people and resources to tackle tough challenges and thrive.”

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