YAY ALLISON GHYZEL! Allison Ghyzel, an integrated services and special education teacher at Mehfoud Elementary, is today’s “Yay of the Day” honoree. Superintendent Amy Cashwell recently honored her at Mehfoud.
YAYWORTHY: Nominator Cindy Blakley said: “Ms. Ghyzel is completely dedicated to the long-term success of her students. She is deliberate and thoughtful when making placement recommendations for her students to attend general education classes for both academics and social skills. She sets high expectations for her students and works to ensure that students are well equipped to successfully meet those expectations. She collaborates with classroom teachers to make sure her students are meeting their academic goals and supports classroom teachers as they work with her students.
“Over the past two years, Ms. Ghyzel has welcomed several new students into her integrated services classroom after the school year has started. Each time she gets a new student, she takes time to reevaluate her classroom needs and support to ensure that every student is still getting the support they need to be successful. She is a passionate advocate for her students and sees great potential in each of them. Ms. Ghyzel’s impact reaches well beyond the classroom. Her communication and caring provided comfort to grandparents, who, along with two younger siblings, are raising a special-needs student who experienced the trauma of domestic violence immediately before the holidays. I participated in an individualized education program meeting for this student and heard firsthand how Ms. Ghyzel had patiently answered the grandparents’ questions and reassured them that their student would be safe and loved in her classroom. Her calm personality made both the grandparents and the student feel at ease.. She is the consistent “safe adult” at school for all her students, advocating and cheering them on, and fighting for what is best for them. Without a doubt, Ms. Ghyzel changes the lives of the students in her class.”
Nominator Sierra Blakley added: “Ms. Ghyzel always goes above and beyond to make sure her students’ and aides’ needs are met. She always has the students’ and staff’s best interests in mind and puts everyone in the building before herself. She always has positive things to say about her students’ progress and does an amazing job at helping them reach their goals. She creates fun and engaging lessons and never fails to do her best to keep the kids interested. She always makes sure her staff is comfortable with what they’re doing and does her best to accommodate our needs so that we can be successful in helping her run her classroom the best we can. I couldn’t ask for a better boss.
“I remember one of my first weeks I was working with a particularly difficult student and was feeling very stumped about how to help this student reach their academic and social goals. Ms. Ghyzel made file folders, specific lesson plans and visuals for this student on her own time and helped me to come up with a plan to help this student be able to do his work and make social progress. She showed me how to use each thing she made and helped me figure out a way to respond to any possible behaviors he had. She stayed after school every day that week so we could go over what was working and what wasn’t working, and the best ways to move forward. This led to me and the student developing a close and strong relationship, and the student made immense amounts of progress the days he was at school. That’s the moment I knew I had an amazing classroom teacher.”
Thank you for all you do, Allison Ghyzel, to make a positive difference and move HCPS forward!
Allison Ghyzel of Mehfoud Elementary
June 12, 2023