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Press > Press Releases > NFH makes prestigious Rex Rolle Award to Hamilton Elementary School Teachers

NFH makes prestigious Rex Rolle Award to Hamilton Elementary School Teachers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 30, 2010

Media contact: Clark Blasdell, President and CEO

Northbay Family Homes

350 Ignacio Blvd., Suite 200

Novato, CA 94949

E-mail: clark@nfh.org

Voice: (415) 382-2530

Direct line: (415) 382-2534

NOVATO, CA (June 30, 2010) – On June 9, two teachers at Hamilton Elementary School received the prestigious Rex Rolle Award that has been presented by Northbay Family Homes since 1994 to Hamilton teachers who have demonstrated the dedication to the profession evinced by the award’s namesake. Rex Rolle was the first Principal of Hamilton Elementary School, when it was restored after the Air Force left and Hamilton was closed in 1976.

The 2010 recipients are second-grade teacher Marie Hoag and kindergarten teacher Leslie Barden. Northbay Family Homes presented each teacher with a plaque and a check for $1,000 to be spent on resources for literacy instruction at the teacher’s grade level.

Hoag praised NFH for its commitment to Hamilton School. “It is so important for the community to support its schools,” she says. “With budget cuts, we’ve had tough times in the past few years.”

Although she has been at Hamilton Elementary for only three years, Hoag always knew that she would be a teacher. She attended Ross Elementary School; then the family moved to Incline Village during her high-school years. “It was a nice, small school, with small classes,” she remembers. “The teachers all made a direct connection with the students, and that’s what I try to do now in my classroom. Students will listen more, and respect you more, if they’re connected to you.” She completed her credential requirements and master’s degree at UC Davis, and she now makes her home in Novato.

Leslie Barden-Smith, known at Hamilton as Leslie Barden, has taught kindergarten for seven years. Teaching is her second career; she received a bachelor’s degree in business and worked in sales before her children were born. When the youngest – twin girls – were old enough for preschool, Barden decided to return to college for her teaching credential. She achieved a master’s degree in education and did her credential training at Dominican University in San Rafael.

Having four children at home, and facing another 20 every morning, can be challenging. But as a kindergarten teacher, Barden sees her job as laying the foundation for a lifetime of loving to learn.

“We have a diverse population; but even beyond diversity, each student arrives at school at a different starting point,” she explains. “Some might be academically prepared, knowing their numbers and letters, but the social part is an adjustment. Others are social; they’re excited to be in a classroom; but the academic side is not as strong.”

Barden is delighted that the check accompanying the Rex Rolle Award will purchase materials to allow all kindergarteners at Hamilton to excel. She will consult with other kindergarten teachers for a final decision, but she thinks now that the $1,000 will buy more materials used in Hamilton’s Listening Center. “In the Listening Center, kids put on headphones to listen to a story and read along in a corresponding book,” she explains. “We like to keep that library full and rich, to correspond with all the areas of our curriculum.”

For many years NFH has supported new residential projects in the Hamilton area, where in 1999 the 32-year-old company was selected by Novato Community Partners as their nonprofit to identify and qualify locally employed people to buy or rent more than 715 newly constructed affordable homes. In addition to the Rex Rolle Award, NFH has donated monies to other youth-serving activities at Hamilton, including the North Bay Children’s Center for its Garden of Eatin,’ a program that combats childhood obesity.

“One of our company’s goals is to leverage as much benefit as possible from every penny that passes through our hands,” says NFH President and CEO Clark Blasdell. “Recognizing dedicated teachers with the Rex Rolle Award meets this goal by providing materials to benefit every student that comes within their sphere of influence.”

Northbay Family Homes works closely with private-sector homebuilders, property owners and lenders as well as cities and counties to expand home-buying opportunities for workforce families. During its 32-year history the Novato company has built, or partnered with others to build, more than 4,000 affordable homes in California, most of those in the North Bay.

For more information, call NFH at (415) 382-2530 or e-mail clark@nfh.org; or see the website at www.nfh.org.