Educators Recognized for Their Devotion

Arlington County, Alexandria Elementary Teachers Receive Meyer Awards

Ward Merritt begins every school year the same way. Standing in front of a roomful of wide-eyed second-graders, he tells them: "I have two jobs: to make sure that I keep you all safe and to see that all of you learn."

"A philosophy of teaching boiled down to 21 one-syllable, seemingly simple words," is how he described it recently.

But Merritt, 45, knows it is not that simple. Second grade, he will tell you, is a bridge between the primary years, when children are very much dependent on adults, and the upper grades, when they will be expected to show more independence. His students teeter between a curiosity about the unknown -- "Does weather exist in every country?" one student asked him -- and a need for familiarity, insisting that the schedule on the blackboard be followed.

"You can learn a lot by being quiet and listening to them," Merritt said, standing in front of this year's batch of 7- and 8-year-olds.

Merritt, who has taught at Randolph Elementary School for 13 years, is Arlington County's recipient of the Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award, from The Washington Post. He has occupied classroom A-121 the entire time, even as public schools have seen a decline in male teachers, with the number smallest at the elementary school level.

One of his former students, in a recommendation letter, remembered him as the "consistency" in her often "chaotic and inconsistent" life.

"Beyond the classroom and delving more deeply into my own personal experiences with this magnificent man, I sincerely feel that he gave more of his heart and time to us than most teachers would ever consider giving," Natasha Metts wrote. "I could always count on him to notice that I was going through something and to be there for me."

Wes McCune, 56, in neighboring Alexandria, is another male elementary school teacher who has no plans of leaving the classroom any time soon. He is also an Agnes Meyer recipient.

"As long as I am happy to get up in the morning and do this work, I will do it," he said.

A music teacher at John Adams Elementary School for the past 19 years, McCune developed the school's opera education program, which has been credited with helping raise scores on the Standards of Learning assessments, and he founded the school's Orff Ensemble. The ensemble meets an hour before school every day, with some students showing up half an hour early to head straight to instruments including the xylophone, metalphone and glockenspiel, McCune said.

Last Sunday, the group performed with the National Symphony Brass Quintet at the George Washington Masonic Memorial. They were ready, McCune said, adding that the children "all know their parts very, very well."

McCune began his teaching career just as discussion surfaced nationwide about cutting back music and arts in schools. As a result, he said, he felt compelled to demonstrate a link between music and improved academic performance. He started Orff with one third-grade class, which could be tracked academically. All the students showed improvement, he said.