A 19-year teaching veteran and a support staff member with more than 35 years of experience in education have received top honors from the Fox C-6 School District.
Lindsay Gruenewald, a second grade teacher at Clyde Hamrick Elementary School, has been named the district’s 2023 Teacher of the Year, and Karen Jansen, a special education paraprofessional at Meramec Heights Elementary School, has been named Fox’s support staff member of the year.
Gruenewald now has the chance to represent the Fox district as a St. Louis Regional Teacher of the Year
“It is well deserved,” Superintendent Paul Fregeau said of Gruenewald’s award. “She makes such a positive difference in kids’ lives. Giving her the recognition is heartwarming and energizing.”
Jansen began working at Fox seven years ago after a 35-year career as an elementary school teacher at St. Paul Catholic School in Fenton.
“She has a great heart for kids and Meramec Heights,” Fregeau said. “It is a pleasure to see how much (the award) means to her because it shows how much the job means to her.”
Fox C-6 School District Superintendent Paul Fregeau, left, presents Karen Jansen, a special education paraprofessional at Meramec Heights Elementary School, with Fox’s support staff member of the year award.
Teacher of the Year
Gruenewald, 41, of St. Louis County has spent her entire career teaching second grade at Clyde Hamrick. Six people nominated her for the building’s teacher of the year award, which put her in the running for the district Teacher of the Year award.
Gruenewald said Clyde Hamrick Principal Gina Buehner and assistant principal Katie Collins came up with a clever way to announce she had won the district’s Teacher of the Year Award.
A school assembly was scheduled on April 6 for students in kindergarten through second grade to purportedly present them with information about a new playground to be installed at the school this summer.
“They were flipping through the slides, and on the third slide, they put up a picture of me when I got the building teacher of the year,” Gruenewald said. “Our head principal, Gina (Buehner), said, ‘Oh my gosh, Mrs. Collins, we messed up with the presentation. This is an old slide deck.’ They then announced me again to everyone as the building teacher of the year.”
Gruenewald said as the playground presentation continued, the slide show included pictures of her with her family and her boyfriend, and Buehner kept apologizing for having those pictures in the slide show.
When Buehner flipped to the final slide, which was supposed to be a picture of the new playground, it was a congratulation message for Gruenewald being named the Teacher of the Year.
“It was shocking and overwhelming,” Gruenewald said. “My kids were excited. They stood up. It was so sweet. One of my boys was like, ‘That’s my teacher.’ It was great seeing them so excited for me.”
Fregeau said he has observed Gruenewald in the classroom, and she deserved the award.
“The kids are having so much fun, they don’t even realize they are learning,” he said. “Her approach and the relationships she has built with those kids makes everything seamless in her classroom.”
Gruenewald said the honor is even more meaningful to her because she grew up in Arnold and graduated from Seckman High School.
“I am proud of the district and honored to be part of it,” she said.
Support staff member of the year
Jansen, 65, of Fenton began her career at Fox as a Title I teaching assistant before moving into the special education paraprofessional role.
She said she works with students one-on-one when they need additional academic support, and she has served as a substitute teacher in nearly every classroom at Meramec Heights.
“I do whatever they need me to do,” she said.
Jansen said she was blown away to receive the award on April 6, when she was asked to help supervise the lunchroom.
“District administrators came in with my daughter (Juli Schneider) and another friend,” she said “It means the world to me. I work with a wonderful staff and they were supportive of me and wrote so many nice things about me. That was the nicest thing ever. I come in smiling every day, and I love the kids.”
Meramec Heights Principal Dustin Bain said in a press release that five staff members nominated Jansen for the building award.
Fregeau said Jansen’s education experience is a huge asset for Meramec Heights and the district.
“It is a great opportunity to leverage years of knowledge about kids and learning,” he said. “She continues to make a difference, working with some of our neediest kids in special education.”
Jansen is the district’s second Support Staff Member of the Year. Kathy Lee, Ridgewood Middle School’s main office secretary, was the first recipient of the award last year.
More honorees
Teachers and support staff members are nominated by fellow staff members, administrators, community members, parents and students.
Along with Gruenewald, this year’s building teachers of the year were Sarah Saputo, Antonia Elementary second grade teacher; Eric Schmitz, Antonia Middle science teacher; Christopher Moffis, Bridges High English teacher; Tara Green, Early Childhood Center teacher; Joy Gilman, Fox Elementary counselor; Thomas Perry, Fox High band teacher; Dennis Sander, Fox Middle business teacher; Cyndi Strieker, Guffey Elementary kindergarten teacher; Tabatha White, Hodge Elementary special education teacher; David Harris, Lone Dell Elementary special education teacher; Beth Gross, Meramec Heights Elementary librarian; Holly Engle, Ridgewood Middle math teacher; Devin Snow, Rockport Heights Elementary fourth grade teacher; Christina Halim, Seckman Elementary special education teacher; Sherry Rice, Seckman High vocal music teacher; Jill Strange, Seckman Middle math teacher; Jamie Niediewski, Sherwood Elementary third grade teacher; and Kimberly McMurry, Simpson Elementary reading specialists.
Along with Jansen, this year’s building support staff members of the year were Robert “Nate” Wellington, Antonia Elementary teacher’s assistant; Lisa Davis, Antonia Middle kitchen manager; Sharon Hediger, Clyde Hamrick Elementary kitchen manager; Mary “Denise” Baechle, Fox Elementary teacher’s aide; Rachel Watkins, Fox High teacher’s assistant; Constance “Connie” Aldridge, Fox Middle teacher’s aide; Colleen Bloethner, Guffey Elementary secretary; Angela Lieberoff, Hodge Elementary nurse; Barrett Houska, Lone Dell Elementary teacher’s assistant; Ashley Million, Ridgewood Middle teacher’s assistant; Melinda Parchim, Rockport Heights Elementary teacher’s assistant; Cheri Estopare, Seckman Elementary diagnostic secretary; Laura Haegele, Seckman High teacher’s assistant; Carla Tesreau, Seckman Middle diagnostic secretary; Melinda Bayers, Sherwood Elementary teacher’s assistant; Ronnie Godby, Simpson Elementary custodian; Melinda Bauer, Don Earl Early Childhood teacher’s aide; Karen Andress, transportation department bus driver; and Stephen Schubert, technology department support staff member.
The teachers and support staff members of the year and this year’s Masterpiece Award recipients were honored during a banquet in April.