Retiring RHS Teacher Honored for Three Decades of Service

David Colella, retiring special education teacher at Revere High School, receives the JFYNet Award for Outstanding Career Service in Support of Student Achievement at the State House May 26. Left to right: Matthew Costa, Director of Mathematics, Revere Public Schools; Anne Marie Costa, Deputy Superintendent, Revere Public Schools; David Colella; and Gary Kaplan, Executive Director, JFYNetWorks.

JFYNetWorks honored David Colella, special education teacher at Revere High school for his 34 years of teaching, recently in a ceremony at the State House.

Keynote speaker Tom Vander Ark, a longtime national leader in education reform, commended Colella for being in the vanguard of the technology revolution in education.

“Personal digital learning is the direction of education in the 21st century,” Vander Ark said. “For schools, it’s blended learning: combining online instruction with other methods to achieve the highest degree of individualization possible. Colella and the other educators who are receiving awards today are leading the transformation of American education.”

Added Gary Kaplan, JFYNetWorks Executive Director, “We all remember teachers who made a difference for us. After parents and immediate family, teachers are the most important adults in a child’s life. For the past 34 years, David Colella has been that important adult in the lives of thousands of kids at Revere High School. David teaches special education, and he makes education truly special. He has made working at Revere High special for us throughout the eight years that JFYNet has been in operation there. The graphs show the difference David has made in performance statistics. The smiles on the faces of his students show something more important: they show the difference he has made in their lives. We regret that he is retiring, but we celebrate the career he has had at Revere High School. When people say ‘Put a great teacher in every classroom.’”

David Colella is the teacher they are talking about.

Colella was presented with the JFYNet Achievement Award for Outstanding Career Service in Support of Student Achievement. Deputy Superintendent Anne Marie Costa and mathematics director Matt Costa assisted in the presentation. Wally Deguglielmo, chief of staff for Sen. Sal DiDomenico, and RoseLee Vincent, staff director for Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein, also assisted. Education policy advisor Thomas Moreau represented speaker Robert A. DeLeo.

The JFYNet Achievement Awards are given each year by JFYNetWorks to selected schools and individuals that have made significant contributions to the cause of improving student achievement through the JFYNet e-learning academic support program. The program provides instructional technology resources and professional development to 22 schools in 14 Massachusetts districts. This year’s ceremony, the 8th annual, was held May 26 at the Grand Staircase in the State House.

JFYNetWorks, a Boston-based non-profit agency, has been developing, delivering and disseminating innovative education and training programs since 1976.