Elementary Teacher Wins Gold

A lifelong resident, former student and current teacher of Trenton Public Schools received a high honor for her tireless efforts, effective teaching strategies and selflessness.

Head of the accreditation committee and third-grade teacher at Jessie L. Anderson Elementary School, Mitzi Tascoff was given the Golden Apple Award.

Tascoff was nominated by her peers and fellow teachers and the award was presented to her at a recent Board of Education meeting.

“Ms. Tascoff is the ultimate teacher,” said John Savel, superintendent of Trenton Public Schools. “She truly cares about all students, their parents and their educational environment.”

Tascoff has lived in Trenton for most of her life. She graduated from Trenton High School in 1973. She went on to receive a bachelor’s from Eastern Michigan University in 1983 and a master’s from the University of Phoenix in 2007. 

After college, Tascoff came back to the city she said she loved and began teaching more than 28 years ago. For her degree, she had learned skills to help teach emotionally impaired children, but eventually she became a third-grade teacher.

“I’m very humbled by the award,” Tascoff said. “This was a very humbling honor I received.”

Savel said the purpose of the Golden Apple Award is to recognize an outstanding contribution of time, talent and effort by a school employee in support of the students, parents and staff of the Trenton Public Schools. 

He added anyone could nominate an employee: a student, community member, parent, other employees, etc.

According to Savel, Tascoff was nominated because she consistently gives 100 percent to the community and its schools, shares teaching strategies with other staff members, donates her own time during lunch to help students struggling in math, helps all children to maximize their potential and much more.

 “To sum it up, she does whatever is necessary to ensure their success, no matter the cost in terms of time, effort, and/or resources,” Savel said. “She is what all teachers strive to be and what all parents want in a teacher.”

Tascoff has been working on making Anderson a state-accredited elementary school. She said she and other staff at the school have been working on the project for more than two years and may soon find out if their efforts were successful.

Tascoff said she is currently working on looking at teaching practices to make sure teachers are using the best practices possible and that each best practice has been well researched.

“We are looking at them (best practices) to see what is most effective and what makes us the most effective teachers,” Tascoff said.

She added that as long as she is in Trenton she would continue to research the very best and most effective teaching practices and work to implement them in the district.

“There are a lot of other people that deserved it (Golden Apple Award) as well and I want to thank the board and my colleagues for taking the time to nominate me,” Tascoff said.