2024 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 112
BY SENATORS MIGUEZ AND ALLAIN
A RESOLUTION
To commend Christine Bayard for winning the Milken Educator Award, which is considered
to be the "Oscars of Teaching".
WHEREAS, Christine Bayard, a sixth-grade math teacher at Johnston-Hopkins
Elementary School in New Iberia, Louisiana, has earned a national award for her approach
to teaching; and
WHEREAS, upon winning the national award Ms. Bayard also wins a $25,000
unrestricted cash prize allowing her to spend the funds as she wishes; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Bayard is an alumnus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in child and family
studies in 2009 and completed a post-baccalaureate certification for middle school math
education in 2017; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Bayard founded the Johnston-Hopkins (JHOP) Elementary School's
math club, works with the Junior Beta Club, serves on JHOP's instructional leadership team
as a mentor teacher in partnership with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching
(NIET) and assists with JHOP's end of the year "Fun Day"; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Bayard has contributed her skill set on both state and national
levels, serving as a certified Louisiana mentor teacher and was featured at the 2023 national
NIET conference with her master teacher on effective coaching strategies; and
WHEREAS, state Superintendent of Education, Dr. Cade Brumley, states that "Ms.
Bayard's classroom is an innovative space where math transcends textbooks and students
engage in real world lessons. Her commitment to a student-centered approach is seen
through academic outcomes and the difference she has made throughout her school."; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Bayard's sixth-grade students explore math concepts far beyond the
pages of a textbook by engaging in units to see how math plays a pivotal role in daily life,
such as when she dons a full space suit for class and transforms lessons on decimals and rate
reasoning into experiences that are truly "out of this world" by having students calculate how
much food, water, and oxygen is needed to live on Mars for two years, how long a Mars text
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message would take to send to Earth, and how many days it would take to ride a horse to the
moon; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Bayard's classroom also becomes a construction site, where
students use cubes to build habitats after calculating the cost, revenue, and profit or loss for
their projects; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Bayard's classroom has stepped foot into the racing world where
students explored fractions by virtually building race cars, working through weight's effect
on speed and velocity; and
WHEREAS, games are no stranger to her students who are eager to review what they
have learned by competing in "mathketball" teams as a result of them learning consistent
value-added achievement growth due to Ms. Bayard's "astronomical" instructional and
professional leadership; and
WHEREAS, Milken Educator Awards Founder Lowell Milken states: "We thank
Christine for selecting teaching for her career and look forward to the contributions she will
bring to the national Milken Educator Network", which is a national group of exceptional
professionals working to "celebrate, elevate, and activate" the K-12 profession; and
WHEREAS, The Milken Educator Award honored up to seventy-five recipients
across the country in 2023-2024 and all recipients will attend an all-expenses paid Milken
Educator Awards Forum in Los Angeles in June where they will network with new
colleagues as well as veteran Milken Educators as they will develop powerful mentorship
opportunities for expanded leadership roles on the state, national, and international levels.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend Christine Bayard, a sixth-grade math teacher at Johnston-Hopkins
Elementary School in New Iberia, for winning the national Milken Educator Award.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Christine Bayard.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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