October 25, 2007

Teacher honored on "The Big Spin"
By DAVID JAMES HEISS, Staff Writer

Rick LeVan of Redlands was honored on "The Big Spin" show by Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, and Joan Borucki, California Lottery director, for being one of five California Teachers of the Year for 2007.

The show aired statewide Oct. 20.

California Department of Education's Teachers of the Year program began in 1972 as a way to pay tribute to California educators and the growing challenges they encounter year after year, and also to recognize teachers and their contributions to public education.

The honorees, who were nominated for the program by their respective school districts, were recognized during the taping of the Big Spin at the KCET studio in Los Angeles.

LeVan said that when he was a young Air Force officer, a flight instructor ordered him to never give up, and he said he applies this credo to his life as well as his teaching.

"There isn't anything that would ever make me give up on my students," LeVan said.

LeVan earned a bachelor's degree from Moravian College in 197, a master's degree from Webster University in 1992 and a California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from the University of Redlands in 1996. He also holds a Cross-cultural, Language and Academic Development Certificate and is Gifted and Talented Education-certified.

Before becoming a teacher, LeVan was a flight navigator in the Air Force, and has flown C-141 transports all over the world, and also was a flight instructor and evaluator.

He started teaching in Yucaipa at Park View Middle School in 1996, and now teaches pre-algebra, life science and advanced studies teacher at Canyon Middle School in Yucaipa. He volunteers as a math tutor for students studying for the California High School Exit Exam, is a volunteer firefighter, coaches with the Mentone Little League and has taken a Destination Imagination team to the state finals.

"Rick LeVan is a second-career teacher who brings a wealth of real-life experience into the classroom," O'Connell said. "He has known success and failure and has vowed he'd never let a student fall short. He's enthusiastic, imaginative, resolute, and compassionate, and he loves his job."

Levan lives in Redlands with his wife, Terry, who works with Redlands-based Larry Jacinto Construction. They have two daughters: Sara, 20, a student at California State University, Fullerton; and Lindsey, 18, a student at Crafton Hills College.

The teachers were simply honored on TV. They didn't receive plaques, or lottery money.

According to LeVan, "I don't look at it as winning something. None of us do."

He said that O'Connell notified him of the recognition in November 2006.

He credited his colleagues for his achievement.

"It's an overwhelming honor to be selected among my peers and administration," he said. "I learned how to teach from the great teachers of the Yucaipa school district."

Four other teachers were recognized by the California Department of Education as teachers of the year for 2007.

They are Dawna Countryman, a fifth-grade teacher at Tesoro Del Valle Elementary School in Valencia; Charles Reynes, a fourth- and fifth-grade science specialist who divides his week among six elementary schools in Alameda County; Helen Papadopoulos, an algebra teacher at Suzanne Middle School in Walnut; and Alan Sitomer, a Gifted and Talented Education English teacher at Lynwood High School in Lynwood.

The California Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since its inception in 1985, the California Lottery has contributed more than $20 billion to California schools out of total sales of more than $53 billion. Retailers have earned $3.4 billion in compensation since 1985.