Helper receives top state award
Deborah Nutt describes herself as a born perfectionist.
She’ll stay up as late as needed to get something just right, a trait enhanced by her interior design degree from Spokane Falls Community College.
Her perfectionism paid off Thursday when she was singled out for a special honor.
The Public School Employees of Washington, the state’s largest union dedicated to classified staff in schools, named her the best classified worker in the state. She’ll receive additional accolades at the union’s state conference this summer.
Classified workers include assistants in the office and classroom. Nutt, a 13-year Mead School District veteran, is in charge of the Northwood Middle School copy center.
She was completely surprised by Thursday’s award. Her best friends knew but didn’t say a word. In the packed Northwood Middle School awards assembly in the Mead School District, Principal Dave Stenersen slowly revealed the identity of the award winner, first describing the employee in vague terms.
Then the students gasped and murmured when Stenersen called the winner the “foosball queen,” an obvious tip-off. Students cheered.
One of Nutt’s duties is monitoring the four foosball tables for students after lunch. She said her game needs work.
As Stenersen called Nutt forward she began to shake. She wiped away tears.
Her good friend Nancy Campbell, who nominated Nutt, said there was worry that their shy friend would pass out from the sudden jolt of attention.
“I like to be part of a crowd,” Nutt said later. “I just don’t like to be in front of a crowd.”
As she walked back to her one-person copy-room office, students broke out into applause as they saw Nutt in the halls.
Campbell said her friend can’t say no to someone needing help.
What also helped make Nutt the state winner was her work in helping other para-educators obtain the training required by federal law.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires that instructional assistants must have at least two years of college or be able to pass a reading and writing skills test to keep their jobs. Existing classroom assistants have until January 2006 to obtain a two-year degree or pass a 2 ½-hour skills test.
For the Mead School District, Nutt organized the effort for teacher’s assistants to take advantage of a grant through SFCC. She was picked for the task by a human resource director who was leaving her job. Mead sent 18 people to the free college classes.
Nutt was also re-elected this week as president of the Mead Para Educators and Education Support Specialists.
“I live to be involved,” Nutt said.
Back when the first of her three children started in the Mead schools, she began volunteering. Her husband, Gary Nutt, is an ironworker and his job kept them in Spokane. It was hard to find local work as an interior designer, she said.
After volunteering, she started subbing and eventually landed a job as an instructional assistant. She stayed on even after her third child graduated from high school.
Last year, she took a position at Northwood Middle School, but most of her time at Mead had been at Meadow Ridge Elementary, where she developed the school Web page. Her artistic touch was also noticed on student certificates, letters and bulletins.
On Thursday, Nutt was working on certificates for the baseball team members. Each featured the student’s name. Nutt wanted to cut and paste each player’s number perfectly centered on the baseball helmet on the certificate.
Each day, she heads out around 3 p.m. to serve as a crossing guard. And a couple times a week, she works a retail job in north Spokane.
“My family tells me I need to slow down and rest,” Nutt said.
She’s saving up for another Hawaiian cruise with her husband. On the cruises (they’ve taken two), he’ll relax while she takes on every class and activity offered, she said.
“I’m not real good at sitting still,” Nutt said.