 Administrative Support Employee of the Year: Theresa Wisner, Central Office
This year’s Administrative Support award recipient is Central Office Administrative Secretary for Athletics and Extracurricular Activities Theresa Wisner. She’s been employed with FCPS since 1999. Ms. Wisner is excited about her job every day, so much so that she says that it is not work to her. Because of the timing of afterschool activities she routinely assists coaches, athletic directors, principals, secretaries and more with anything needed in the evenings and on weekends. She is dedicated to students and staff, using her excellent communication and organizational skills to make sure 12,000+ students successfully register for sports every year. Her patient, calm, and helpful nature is often the relief that a concerned or sometimes upset parent needs when they call with questions.
Ms. Wisner is driven to make FCPS the best in the state in everything. She was recently integral in supporting the successful implementation of the girls flag football program, which provides athletic opportunities for 300+ female students. The Baltimore Ravens have said that Ms. Wisner’s assistance played a crucial role in expanding girls flag football this past fall. She attended the inaugural girls flag football state championship in Baltimore.
She works closely with other departments to ensure that all the factors and details related to athletics and extracurricular activities go smoothly. She is respected by her coworkers for her kind and caring nature – she not only makes sure to meet with athletic directors, coordinators, and secretaries in person for on-site trainings, but she also asks them questions and takes the time to care about them on a personal level.
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 Food Service Support Employee of the Year: Casandra Allison, Middletown High
This year’s Food Services Support award recipient is Casandra Allison, fondly known as Keno by her friends and coworkers, of Middletown High. She’s been an employee of FCPS for 26 years in the Food & Nutrition Services Department. She has served students in Brunswick, Frederick, Walkersville, Tuscarora, Catoctin and currently Middletown. In addition to being the Middletown FNS Assistant Manager, she also works at the LYNX program at Frederick High every day after school.
Middletown High is a production kitchen that takes care of five schools in the Middletown region. She takes extra steps to assure her schools are within their budgets and she always takes time to answer questions and travel to schools for hands-on assistance. She also runs various FCPS catering events. Ms. Allison is known for being open to new ideas, being patient as she handles hectic situations with ease, and adapting well to changes in operating procedures and methods. She has built respected relationships with fellow FCPS staff and students alike because she treats everyone like family.
Ms. Allison supports the LYNX supper program every day after school, which she helped found. In 2017, the FCPS Food and Nutrition Services team developed the first-ever high school supper service through the National School Supper Program. Through much planning and development, Ms. Allison helped bring the vision to life. Michelle Shearer, FCPS Project Manager for High School Innovation says that “Keno’s boundless positive energy and commitment to innovate are central to the success of the LYNX supper program.”
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 Operations Support Employee of the Year: Livida Merlos, Ballenger Creek Middle
Lead Custodian Livida Merlos of Ballenger Creek Middle is this year’s recipient of the Operations Support award. Ms. Merlos has worked for FCPS for 17 years and for Ballenger Creek Middle for the past five. Ballenger Creek Middle principal Jay Schill says that through her own efforts and leadership, she has turned her school into one of the best looking and cleanest schools in the system.
Ms. Merlos has built a team of six custodians and through her example they operate as a unit. She never asks the other custodians to do anything that she wouldn’t do herself, and she is flexible with her schedule to ensure that the custodial team is properly staffed for the evening. Ms. Merlos comes early, she stays late, and she is the auxiliary custodian on the weekends for user groups. She is highly respected amongst her coworkers for her detail-oriented work ethic and her warm positivity. Ms. Merlos ensures that not only is the building pristine, but that the building is properly outfitted with furniture so that students can learn.
She goes above and beyond her regular duties by regularly volunteering to translate for the Spanish speaking parents and visitors to make sure they feel welcome and that their needs are met. She also acts as an informal mentor to many of the students, especially Multilingual learner students, and she helped one of the other custodians study to earn United States citizenship. She builds relationships with students, staff, and the community and gets to know them and cares for them on a personal level. Being the mother of seven children to go through Fred
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 School Support Employee of the Year: Curtiss Belcher, Brunswick High
Curtiss Belcher the Digital Learning Lab Mentor at Brunswick High School is this year’s recipient of the School Support Services award. Mr. Belcher has been a benefitted employee with FCPS for 6 years where he encourages students, parents, and colleagues to reach out to him for assistance at any time. He is highly organized, a master motivator, and supports his students in all aspects of life. The success of his students is a direct reflection of his unwavering dedication.
Mr. Belcher is also committed to personal and professional growth for the benefit of his students. He is currently working towards becoming a certified Special Education Teacher through MD Leads and Hood College.Through his background as a football coach, he has the ability to personalize his approach to mentoring each student based on their individual needs, helping students grow both academically and personally.
Students say that he pushes them to be the best version of themselves and they describe him as an excellent educator, mentor, friend, and positive role model. Co-workers describe him as kind-hearted, selfless, welcoming to all, energetic and positive, and someone who fosters a spirit of teamwork and mutual support with fellow staff members.
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 Special Education Support Employee of the Year: Courtney Prahl, Centerville Elementary
Courtney Prahl is the FCPS Special Education Support Employee of the Year as well as the Overall Support Employee of the Year. A 15+ year employee of FCPS and a Special Education Instructional Assistant at Centerville Elementary, Ms. Prahl is noted as consistently being proactive in her job. She identifies gaps, takes ownership, and implements solutions that help students and staff alike. Her most impressive proactive projects include creating a streamlined process for locating and distributing resources, ensuring students receive materials in a timely fashion and empowering teachers in their quest to better serve students. She also independently developed a library of social stories that help students understand and navigate difficult situations leading to success across the school.
In Ms. Prahl’s special education duties, she always goes above and beyond to help her students succeed including utilizing her strong communications skills to advocate for her students, completing in-depth research, persistence in getting the best for her students, and delivering impactful solutions. She is a lifelong learner, continually expanding her knowledge to help her students. Building strong relationships with her students is one of her greatest strengths. She continuously celebrates the worth and value that all children have and helps students learn how to do things on their own, empowering them to tackle future challenges.
Her solution-oriented mindset, optimism, innovation, passion, professionalism, and devotion to her students has made her universally respected by her coworkers and makes her a credit to her school and the system as a whole.
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 Technical Support Employee of the Year: Tammy Barlow, Middletown High
Middletown High User Support Specialist Tammy Barlow is this year’s Tech Support award recipient. She has been with FCPS as a benefitted employee since 2011. When the school was short staffed because the media specialist position opened up at the beginning of the school year, Ms. Barlow acted as the media specialist as well as fulfilling her role as the user support specialist until another person was hired to fill the position at the end of the first term. She did all this while also coaching Unified Tennis.
She is an incredibly hard worker who is continuously improving her professional skills. She effortlessly treats everyone with respect and kindness. She inspires her coworkers with her work ethic, willingness to learn new skills and take on new challenges, and her positive attitude. Her calm and friendly demeanor make her an ideal teammate and coworker. She is constantly helping in many areas around the school that go beyond her regular duties.
Ms. Barlow is deeply invested in the school and the community – she attends extracurricular activities including coaching three sports, attending after school activities and plays, and she forms meaningful bonds with students and their families. She knows students and warmly greets them by name when she sees them. She not only understands her school, she IS her school as an asset both in dedication to her responsibilities and in school spirit.
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