Scott and Krumm to be honored at State American Legion Convention

After being nominated by the American Legion Clay Kiser Post #92 in Redfield, two local citizens will be recognized at the South Dakota American Legion State Convention, June 24-27, 2012, at the Ramkota/Watertown Event Center, 1901 9th Avenue SW, Watertown, SD.

Kathy Scott of Redfield was selected as the 2012 South Dakota American Legion Educator of the Year. Kathy was nominated by Clay Kiser Post 92 of Redfield. Scott is employed by the Redfield School District as an instructor for the Early Childhood Intervention Program (ECIP) and works with children from birth to 6 years of age who qualify for Early Childhood Special Education services. In addition she works with kindergarten children to help promote their progress towards their kindergarten reading and math readiness goals, participating in all Kindergarten Readiness activites and the kindergarten screening that takes place each spring at the Redfield school. Part of her ECIP responsibilities also include working with pre-kindergarten children who are receiving Birth to Three services. Currently she holds Toddler groups in the ECIP Classroom three times a month. “Our goal for children in the Birth to Three Program is the same as our goal for preschoolers and kindergarten students,” said Scott. “We want to promote progress in all developmental areas: communication, concepts, social and adaptive behavior, and both gross and fine motor skills.”

During her career as an educator Kathy hasn't always been in the Redfield School system, nor has she always been an ECIP Instructor. Because of her experience and the fact that she is fluent in Spanish, Kathy has worked as an elementary teacher in both regular and bilingual classrooms at schools in the states of Texas, South Dakota, California and Nebraska. “While the majority of my experience was in the elementary grades, I have also taught as an English Language Learning teacher and Chapter 1 teacher for upper elementary students in Nebraska and had the opportunity to teach Spanish on a part time basis at the University of Nebraska in Kearney.”

For the past three years Kathy has served as the Spanish-English translator for both the school and community. “I have worked as a translator for the Sheriff's Department and Head Start when needed and during the spring of 2010 I taught an introductory Conversational Spanish course to teachers and community members so that they could communicate with Spanish speaking members of the community.” According to Redfield Elementary Principal Brenda Stover, “Kathy has taken her own time to set up a curriculum for teaching a Spanish class to any interested staff at Redfield Public School. This has proven to be extremely advantageous when dealing with the diverse population that Redfield and area schools have encountered.”

In addition to her work at the Redfield School, Kathy is a certified Common Sense Parenting Instructor and has taught various classes in the Redfield Area including classes for the trustees at the Trustee Unit when it was located at SDDC and other classes for young parents in the community.

In the summer of 2007 Kathy worked for FEMA's Project

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Caring Hands visiting people and organizations affected by the flooding in Spink County and giving out information about the FEMA program including resources and help available to them.

Kathy and her husband Tom reside on the Scott family farm. Tom is a member of the Brentford American Legion and a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Army. Kathy is a member of the Brentford American Legion Auxiliary.

The Scott's have two children. Jason, age 29 who workes for the U.S. Forest Service in the Timber Department and Jackie, 27, an active duty senior airman in the United States Air Force. Jackie is stationed at the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Both Jason and Jackie have received Bachelor's degrees from Black Hills State University and Jackie is currently working on her Master's Degree in Psycology. Jason and his wife Mandi live in Spearfish with their daughter , 6 week old Eira Christine Scott.

According to Principal Stover, “Kathy is a very valuable team member in the Early Childhood Program and works in collaboration with the speech therapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and Head Start on a daily basis. Her job is always done completely with a great deal of care for her students and their parents.” Kathy has also been named as the South Dakota Early Childhood Teacher fo the Year.

Congratulations to Kathy and thank you for the many years of service in educating our youth.

Frank Krumm of the South Dakota Highway Patrol and Redfield resident will also be honored.

He has been chosen as the 2012 American Legion Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.

Frank has been a member for the South Dakota Highway Patrol for 26 years. He supervises seven Field Troopers who cover seven South Dakota Counties.

Sergeant Krumm also provides training to smaller law enforcement agencies and he is a radar and Lidar instructor. Congratulations to Frank and a thank you for an outstanding job.