Making educators’ dreams come true is a beautiful thing

MONA SHIELD PAYNE / HENDERSON HOME NEWS

C.T. Sewell Elementary students enthusiastically agree to help Michael Milken present a big surprise honor to their principal, Carrie Larson, on Friday at the school.

By Brian Greenspun (contact)

Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008 | 2 a.m.

We’re dreaming of a white Christmas.

Everybody knows how close Las Vegas came to having one this year. We came within a few days of that magical moment millions of Americans take for granted in the northeastern United States but few have seen in these parts. So who is going to complain about a few days here or there?

There was another dream that came true last week. It had elements of Christmas because it came with a full measure of surprise and amazement. It was surrounded by the happiness of small children, which added warmth and purpose to the dream. And it provided a gift both overwhelming and unexpected to a deserving person.

And, most of all, it served to focus the attention of our community — as it has done for the past 20 years — on our most precious assets, our teachers and their students.

I refer to the Milken Educator Awards and this year’s recipient, Carrie Larson. Larson is the principal of C.T. Sewell Elementary School in Henderson. Sewell is one of eight empowerment schools in the School District.

I remember as a very young man driving past Sewell on the way to Lake Mead. There wasn’t much along that road — the school, a bait and tackle store and a few residences that were old back then. Today, Lake Mead Boulevard is a different story. Growth has left its mark. And, until Principal Larson arrived, the school not only showed its age but also suffered mightily in areas that really count — its ability to educate and motivate students who depend on what happens inside Sewell for the kind of educational foundation that will make their lives far more successful and exciting.

I attended the event at which Larson was singled out by both Sen. John Ensign and Milken Family Foundation benefactor Mike Milken, who has been handing out the awards and $25,000 checks to the winners for the past 22 years. More than 2,000 recipients have been so honored.

As we know all too well, for most teachers and administrators, 25 grand is practically life-changing money. At the very least, it is the most appropriate way I can imagine to recognize and thank people who give of themselves to make our children better educated and happier citizens.

The Sun and its Web site, www.lasvegassun.com, were replete with stories about Larson’s remarkable achievements at Sewell Elementary. She was quick to note Friday that her success has been a team effort, and I saw the teachers on that team and, most important, the smiles on those young faces — smiles that give reason for Larson and others to work so hard and so passionately in this profession.

Milken doesn’t need me or anyone else to write about his incredible achievements over the past few decades in both medical and educational pursuits. He has been a leader without peer when it comes to fighting through the red tape of medical discovery and the bureaucratic inertia that can infect academia. His efforts have not only saved countless numbers of people but, more important, affected many thousands of young lives.

He doesn’t need it but I do. I need to continually recognize the good that this man does in the hope that others will follow his lead. We all lament the lack of respect we seem to have for our teachers — which may not be true but is reflected in the low salaries we insist on paying them. Milken does something about it.

He leads by the example of $60 million of Milken Foundation money given to educators over the past two decades. What do we do? We criticize those who would pay modest raises to the people to whom we entrust our children’s futures.

He leads by traveling all over this country to surprise a deserving educator with a life-altering check and the kind of recognition she can only dream of getting. What do we do? We criticize those who push for better schools, newer books and the kind of programs that we know make our kids better people. We not only criticize, we refuse to pay!

It is reasonably well known that Mike Milken had his troubles back in the ’90s as one of Wall Street’s great financial minds. He paid that debt with honor and with interest. Since then, he’s has been exemplary in his actions and dedication on behalf of those to whom we will bequeath the future

I got misty when Larson was genuinely surprised to learn she was given the honor of representing more than 3 million educators in this country through her award. It got worse when she told me she had never had that much money at one time and that she would use it to start a fund for her own children’s college educations. And I almost lost it completely when I saw the light of recognition in the eyes of young students who saw the wonderment of a math class taught by Mike Milken as only he can do it.

Yes, it was a good week when Christmas almost turned snowy white for the first time in more than 30 years and when Carrie Larson got the recognition she deserved along with the hugs she earned from her students.

Dreaming of a white Christmas is easy. Making our educators’ dreams come true takes work.

But it’s not that hard to do. Right, Mike?

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.