[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 53 (Monday, April 19, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3864-S3865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING PEGGY O'NEILL-SKINNER FROM THE BUSH SCHOOL, SEATTLE, WA

 Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, during this past recess, I had the 
pleasure of presenting Innovation in Education Awards to two excellent 
recipients; the first of which I noted in a previous floor speech.
  The second Innovation in Education Award went to Peggy O'Neill-
Skinner, a truly remarkable science teacher at the Bush School in 
Seattle. Peggy has been a science teacher for 28 years and is doing 
outstanding work in helping her students learn the importance of 
biology and technology in today's world. Her years of devotion in 
teaching AP Biology, general biology, and numerous elective science 
courses have shown great dividends. In fact, at a larger education 
event at which this award was presented, my staff was approached by a 
number of attendees who had one universally similar point to share: 
``my child went to Bush and Peggy is a truly remarkable teacher. She is 
the kind of teacher that can change a student's life and is a perfect 
fit for this award.'' Such praise needs no elaboration.
  Last December, Peggy was given the prestigious Siemens Award for 
Advance Placement, one of only 20 award winners across the country. The 
Siemens Award recognizes excellence AP courses for math and science. By 
virtue of being selected with such a small number of her peers to 
receive such

[[Page S3865]]

recognition, Peggy's own accomplishments speak to her supererogatory 
nature.
  Her devotion to her students and to pursuing her own continued 
education has paid great dividends with her students. Indeed, she 
spends her own summers teaching and learning at the University of 
Washington as well as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. It is 
this kind of effort--to be the best possible educator one can be--that 
makes the education of all our children better.
  I am pleased to have been able to give Peggy an Innovation in 
Education Award in recognition of her hard work, her dedication, and 
her devotion to making the lives of her students better. While Peggy 
teaches in a private school, she clearly demonstrates the common sense 
that permeates local educators in all of our constituencies. They can 
do amazing things if we make sure they have the resources to do so 
without the red tape that would otherwise stifle the learning of our 
children.
  For too long the federal government has been in the business of 
placing burdensome regulations on our local schools. We have in Peggy 
O'Neill-Skinner an example of what educators can do without those 
restraints and we owe it to our children and grandchildren to let 
educators like Peggy reach their potential. That is why I will continue 
to fight hard on behalf of legislation that provides relief from red 
tape and brings more money into local classrooms where the people with 
real common sense to educate our children work everyday.

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