Teacher of the most vulnerable named district’s Teacher of the Year

Don Jackson teaches the most vulnerable children in the Puyallup School District.

For 21 years, he’s taught in special education, specifically elementary students in the district’s Excel Program at Brouillet Elementary School, which provides services to students who are medically fragile with physical and development disabilities, and some with limited mobility and are unable to speak.

While some would say Jackson has a tough job teaching such vulnerable students, he does it with ease to advocate for his students. So much so, the Puyallup native was recently named the Puyallup School District’s Primary Teacher of the Year.

Jackson won’t take all the credit for the award, but says he couldn’t have done it with out his support staff of para-educators.

“We work collaboratively to help support these kids,” Jackson said. “We like the kids, the kids like us. It’s really great work. I couldn’t have done it without my staff.”

Judy Radcliffe, Jackson’s colleague for more than 12 years, nominated the special education teacher for the award. With mostly non-verbal students, Radcliffe nominated him because his students can’t go home to their parents and share all things Jackson does for them.

“He’s so humble and seeks no recognition,” Radcliffe said. “He does the most difficult job. You know by seeing him with his students that those kids are taken care of. He’s such a wonderful human being and is so selfless. Those parents who send their children trust him to take the best care of their children. The kids love him, the staff love him. When he got the award you could feel it made sense and it was the right fit.”

In order to catch Jackson off guard, staff at Brouillet were called into an emergency staff meeting last month to announce the award. Jackson said he never saw it coming.

“I walked in and saw that all the big wigs were there; I knew something was up,” he said. “I was totally surprised when the said I won the award. There are so many good people at this school and in education. I feel so overwhelmed by it.”

According to Jackson’s principal, Nancy Strobel, he will often say to her, “Can you believe they pay us to do this job?”

“The kids feel safe and loved in his class,” she added. “He loves being here. This is exactly where he wants to be. We can’t say enough great things about Don. He’s magical with kids and family. His staff of para-educators is amazing because of his leadership. He really pushes the students when it would be easy to not. He pushes them gently, but firmly.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 12:13 PM with the headline "Teacher of the most vulnerable named district’s Teacher of the Year."