The Okeechobee County School Board recognized four district employees at their Sept. 8 meeting who retired this year, Karen Cotton, Eric Christensen, Roberto Preisler and Elmo Urbina.
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OKEECHOBEE — The Okeechobee County School Board recognized four district employees at their Sept. 8 meeting who retired this year, Karen Cotton, Eric Christensen, Roberto Preisler and Elmo Urbina.
Mrs. Cotton was a full-time ESE teacher at North Elementary and was recognized for 38 years of service in the school district.
“She started back in May of 1982, I believe,” said Superintendent Ken Kenworthy. “She spent 20 years as a fifth grade teacher before moving into ESE. Karen has helped us out in many different capacities; she’s coached for many years. What I remember most and what I compliment her on is the unbelievable performance of the students in her class on assessments. When you look at the third and fourth graders that she’s taught over the years, they have done just a phenomenal job.”
Mr. Christensen started in February 2011 as a bus driver for the district. Eric’s willingness to step up wherever he was needed was highlighted by Kenworthy as what made him such a great employee.
Mr. Preisler began working in the district in 2004 as a custodian at Okeechobee High School and Everglades Elementary. He transferred to be full time at OHS in his second year in the district before moving to Yearling Middle School in 2012.
Elmo Urbina started working within the school district in 1982 at Central Elementary. In 2000 she became a migrant advocate at Central, going on to split her time between Central and North Elementary in 2018.
“We can’t say enough about our migrant program,” said Kenworthy. “You look at our data compared to other counties and you can see the higher percentage of gradation rate we have. That is all due to the work that all of our advocates do from elementary all the way to the high school.”
The school board approved the emergency purchase of COVID-19 supplies later in the meeting. The district purchased $8,141.85 worth of vinyl, nitrile and latex gloves, $11,962.50 for wipes and $1,896 for digital thermometers.
On Sept. 17, the Okeechobee County School District was notified by the Okeechobee County Department of Health that a student at Central had tested positive for the virus. Through contract tracing, school officials determined that six students at the elementary should be excluded for a period of up to 14 days.
