PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Zina McGowan-Thomas , Public Information Officer, 301-475-5511, ext. 193

TYLER, SWEENEY WIN MULTICULTURAL AWARD

LEONARDTOWN , MD – Ms. Gail Tyler, a music teacher at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School , and Ms. Evelyn Sweeney, a 4^th grade teacher at Leonardtown Elementary School , recently won the Myra Sadker Foundation’s 2008-2009 Teacher Award.

The Myra Sadker Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting equity in and beyond schools by working to eliminate gender bias. The Teacher Award is designed to promote and support teacher projects (K-12) that help students learn about and respect group differences, promote fairness, and build upon the values and contributions of Myra Sadker’s work.

Ms. Tyler and Ms. Sweeney currently serve as coordinators of the diversity committees at their respective schools and represent their schools as members of the Education That is Multicultural and Achievement (ETMA) Network.  Both teachers served as planning committee members for the National Association of Multicultural Education’s (NAME) state conference hosted by St. Mary’s County Public Schools in April 2008.

For more details, contact Ms. Deanna Mingo, SMCPS assessment specialist, at 301-475-5511, ext. 138.