[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 39 (Thursday, March 11, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S2609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING PHYLLIS MARCKWORTH OF THE PORT TOWNSEND SCHOOL DISTRICT

 Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I would like to recognize the 
outstanding achievements of a local educator, Phyllis Marckworth, from 
Port Townsend in Washington State. Phyllis has been brought to my 
attention for her devoted efforts in singlehandedly taking charge of 
efforts to create an integrated system of technology throughout the 
Port Townsend School District. Indeed, Superintendent Gene Medina 
credits Phyllis' enthusiastic efforts for literally transforming the 
fundamental nature of student learning in the district. It is 
individuals like Ms. Marckworth that should remind all of us here in 
the U.S. Senate of the indispensable role that the innovation of local 
educators play in our children's education.
  Phyllis is the kind of rare and special educator which schools across 
this country cherish. She serves as a teacher, a technology 
administrator, and a staff developer. Thus, her contributions to the 
better education of students of Port Townsend are noteworthy for 
several reasons: first, her incredible zeal in tirelessly laboring on 
behalf of the students she serves. In 1993, she was coordinating plans 
to purchase computers and telephones for the Port Townsend District. 
Rather than follow the tradition path of initial hardware investment to 
supply individual classrooms, Phyllis embarked on a bolder and 
eventually more rewarding task of assembling an entire 
telecommunications network for all the students in the district to 
utilize and learn from. That network has since become the backbone of 
the improved communication and learning in Port Townsend that all 
schools hope technology will bring to our classrooms.
  Secondly, her visionary innovation in implementing an integrated 
system of technology within the Port Townsend school district has 
resulted not just in a ``technology curriculum'' but technology that is 
fully integrated within the entire district's curriculum. This 
integration has resulted in better education for students who now 
understand and utilize technology as a part of every aspect of their 
lives and learning, not just a computer that is used for typing term 
papers or biology lab reports.
  Finally, this integration which Phyllis sparked has also corresponded 
with a direct focus on developing the ability of staff throughout the 
Port Townsend district to make technology a part of their classrooms. 
Hence, teachers can make technology a part of the whole education 
process rather than simply a small piece student learning. Too often 
technology is brought in to the classrooms of today without the 
training necessary for our teachers to best use that technology to 
train our students for tomorrow. Phyllis Marckworth has met that 
challenge head on and has made her district and its students better 
because of the creative and dedicated way in which she has done so.
  It is individuals like Phyllis Marchworth that make education across 
this country and in our local schools great, not more rules and 
regulations from Washington, DC. As we in the Senate work on important 
education legislation, I hope my colleagues will remember the 
innovative work of educators like Phyllis Marchworth who show how local 
communities create education success stories when we give them the 
flexibility they need and deserve.

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