Green Valley teacher honored in Washington

WASHINGTON -- When Diane Koutsulis learned she had won a brand new Lincoln Continental automobile, she was unfazed.

Koutsulis had no license, but even if she did she still wouldn't have been able to drive. Koutsulis was, after all, only 2 years old.

Her father, who penned his daughter's name on the winning church raffle ticket, sold the car and stashed the money. A few years later Koutsulis' parents used the money to buy Diane a gift -- a Baldwin grand piano.

The piano played a pivotal role in Koutsulis' life, instilling in her a deep love for music that eventually melded with a ferocious passion for teaching. This week, some four decades later, the 41-year-old music teacher at Green Valley High School came to Washington as Nevada's "Teacher of the Year."

"I feel like Cinderella," she said while standing with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in front of a television camera. "As teachers, you don't think that you're ever going to come to Washington to be honored."

Koutsulis joined a group of teachers from across the country who were honored in the nation's capital this week for their contributions to education.

During her visit, she met President Clinton and Education Secretary Richard Riley. But the sight of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument is old hat for Koutsulis. In 1993 she brought 120 high school band members to perform at President Clinton's Inauguration.

Koutsulis said educators' first priority should be to make schools safe havens for children. But she stressed such efforts are often out of balance.

"There is this big push for educational standards and testing," Koutsulis said. "But we need to remember we are still teaching children. We have to teach the whole child."

Koutsulis said she believes school is more than reading and writing, it is also about learning how to live and prosper together in society. Addressing this week's school massacre in Colorado, Koutsulis said, "No amount of metal detectors or extra years of math and science classes would have helped it. We have to teach children to respect one another."

Koutsulis said this trip to Washington had been draining, but it won't stop her from being in the classroom today. "I have to go to school tomorrow," she said.

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