'Board member of the year': SMCISD's Hansen gets TCTA's top honor
December 5, 2009
San Marcos CISD School Board member Kathy Hansen has been chosen by the Texas Classroom Teachers Association (TCTA) as the School Board Member of the Year for Texas. She was nominated by the local chapter and will be officially recognized at the TCTA annual conference on Feb. 5, 2010, in Fort Worth.
Hansen was elected to the school board in 2007, and now serves as board secretary. Her commitment to education is evidenced by her 32 years as an educator, serving as a teacher, a Reading/Dyslexia coordinator, director of Special Education and assistant principal of San Marcos High School.
She spent 30 of those instructional years with SMCISD, working with students, teachers and parents in grades kindergarten through high school, with ten superintendents and numerous school board members.
Retired from the district, Hansen now works for Social Security as a Disability Specialist. But she remains very active in SMCISD reading to classes, helping with TAKS testing and doing extensive reading recovery tutoring. She frequently attends district functions ranging from sporting events and concerts to academic competitions and recovery program graduations.
"This is a well-deserved honor. We are proud of Kathy and all that she does and has done for San Marcos CISD," said Superintendent Dr. Patty Shafer.
"Many teachers, after retirement, look forward to other activities. Kathy Hansen jumped back into her passion: San Marcos CISD and its students. She has become known as a teacher and student advocate," said local TCTA President Grace Mueller.
Hansen and her husband John raised two children - Jeremy and Meghan - in SMCISD schools K-12. She serves as Eucharistic Minister at the Texas State University Catholic Center, and volunteers with many organizations throughout the San Marcos community.
Hansen earned her Bachelor of Science in Education from Stephen F. Austin State University and her Master of Arts in Education from Northern Arizona State University, in addition to post graduate work done at the University of Texas and Texas State University, where she earned her Mid-Management Certification. In 2002, she served on the Oxford Round Table studying the future of education with international educators at Oxford University in England.