March 2023 APS All Stars Announced

APS is excited to announce the March 2023 APS All Stars, selected out of several hundred outstanding staff nominees! These individuals demonstrate excellence in collaboration, equity, inclusivity, integrity, innovation and stewardship. They are members of the APS team who are the first to pitch in, bring a positive attitude to their work and go above and beyond to serve students. Congratulations to these individuals!

Megan McKeown
Swanson

Inclusive, Tireless, Dedicated and Creative

Ms. McKeown is extremely hard-working. She seems to work 24 hours a day to create an inclusive learning environment for my child! Her classroom is my child’s safe space. She beams with positive energy and hope. If her plan doesn’t work, she just comes up with a new plan– she is constantly putting so much creativity and energy into her work. She helps so many different students with so many different challenges yet she makes my child feel like the center of her day. How does she keep all of these balls in the air? How does she never give up hope? Ms. McKeown’s ability to tackle so much, with so much love and compassion, is extraordinary. She is a gift to our family. She is a gift to our entire community.

Kristen Moretti
Shriver

Outstanding, Amazing, Supportive and always thinking outside of the box for a better solution

As a Behavioral Specialist Ms. Moretti provides classroom support to our students with significant behavioral needs. She collaborates with Shriver staff to develop and implement positive reinforcement strategies such as students’ daily schedules, visual support routines and interventions to help our students learn successfully in the classroom using appropriate behavior. Ms. Moretti is always visible and available throughout the school day to assist and support strategies related to the behavioral concerns of our students. She is amazing and this is why I am nominating her as an APS All Star!

Tara Colgan
Arlington Community High School

Smart, adaptable, resourceful, goal-oriented and innovative

Ms. Colgan helps students master content that they didn’t learn in their courses. She teaches ALL content areas – it’s amazing. Biology, US/VA History, Earth Science, she knows it all. She helps students finish competencies and preps them for the SOL. She also works with students that need to take and pass the Work Keys Reading and Writing test. She has students’ credit checkers and knows what they need to graduate and she gets them across the finish line. It is amazing to watch her do this incredible work.

Kevin Miles
Montessori

Dedicated, highly-skilled, passionate and loving

Mr. Miles is an experienced special education teacher who is passionate about his field and dedicated to his students. He has a good rapport with the children and interacts with all of the children in the classroom, not just those on his caseload. He works extremely hard, sometimes staying at school until after nine at night. He provides excellent instruction and has taken the time to receive lessons on Montessori materials to make sure he is integrating his lessons with the Montessori Philosophy. Mr. Miles is very involved with his students and ensures great efforts to know what is going on with them both in and out of school. Even when he has more on his plate than he has time for, he never misses his time with his students. This year, he has had a couple of unusually challenging students and families. He has gone above and beyond to work with these students and families to help the children be as successful as they can be. He is dedicated to working as part of the entire team of people who are involved with the children he helps. Mr. Miles definitely personifies the idea that it takes a village to raise a child.

Vanessa Ventura
Syphax Education Center

Innovative, Hard-working and an Advocate for Families!

Ms. Ventura embodies all the essential qualities of an APS APS All Star! Her passion is helping families have a successful experience upon their first interaction with APS at the Welcome Center. She consistently advocates for all families and the registration staff. The Welcome Center runs smoothly because of her hard work and dedication to serving the APS community. Her best effort is put forth in all she does, and she makes even the most difficult tasks seem manageable by the way she creates them, explains them, and touches base with those engaging in them. She is a tremendous asset not only to the Welcome Center but also to APS as a whole.