Teacher's techno-talents win national honor
 
Sherry Boas
Sentinel Correspondent

June 3, 2001

When David Lynch goes to sixth grade next year in Orlando, he plans to set up an after-school program teaching other students how to prevent computer viruses.

He'll show them how to run the scan-disk and "defrag" operations on a personal computer.

"I'll also be setting up and producing a morning TV show to broadcast the daily announcements to the student body," he said.

David's technological know-how comes thanks to Lori Byrnes, a teacher at Cypress Ridge Elementary School in Clermont. She teaches the School-To-Work/Technology curriculum to the whole campus.

Her work has not gone unnoticed.

Astronaut Fred Haise will present the first Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award on behalf of the National Association of Educational Technology Specialists to the 34-year-old teacher at the National Educational Computing Conference on June 27 in Chicago.

Byrnes received an all-expense-paid trip and a new laptop computer for her work in promoting technology in the classroom.

More than 12,000 technology educators are expected to attend, including Dennis Reid, the principal at Cypress Ridge Elementary.

"We are very proud of Lori. She is a wonderful teacher and very deserving of this honor. She is part of the terrific staff here at Cypress Ridge," Reid said recently.

This is not the first time that Byrnes' work developing the first comprehensive School-to-Work/Technology enrichment program in Florida has been recognized and rewarded.

In 1997 and 1998 her efforts earned her Disney's "Teacherrific," award and in 1999-2000 she was named Teacher of the Year at Cypress Ridge. She has been asked to speak at conferences and granted interviews to media members around the country. She even receives a steady flow of job offers.

"I love my work here at Cypress Ridge," said Byrnes, the mother of three children, two of whom attend Cypress Ridge, and wife of a Valencia Community College professor.

"My first teaching job was with Principal Reid when he was over at Minneola Elementary, and I came here with him to Cypress Ridge when it first opened in 1996 as a magnet school for math, science and technology, so I've been here from the start," Byrnes said. "This is a great place to work and I couldn't be more proud of my kids and all they have accomplished."

In explaining how the School-to-Work/Technology program operates, she recalls situation after situation when children as young as 6 or 7 years old have demonstrated technological competency, economic awareness and increased self-esteem.

From first-graders creating Mother's Day cards to fifth-graders making a graduation video, Byrnes' program has enabled students at an early age to become comfortable working with electronic equipment, and understand money -- how to earn, budget, save and spend it.

The fact that her program is not focused on only one grade level set Byrnes apart from her competitors in the recent NAETS competition.

"Lori's entry met and exceeded all the qualifications we set out for our applicants," said Lori Stanley, coordinator for the NAETS program. "It was far above the other entries we received in innovation, excellence and, especially, in that it involved a commitment from the whole school. We liked that it was a schoolwide program, not one geared to a single specific grade level."

Byrnes' students also like it.

"I've learned a lot about technology in Mrs. Byrnes' classes," David said. "They are the best classes I had all year. At my new school, I'll be able to teach other kids what Mrs. Byrnes taught us, and maybe the kids there will continue passing the knowledge along to others."

Copyright © 2001, Orlando Sentinel