ARLINGTON — The organizer of Arlington School District’s Respect program, Sarah Cofer has been selected by the district’s adminIstrators to receive the Outstanding Student Achievement award from the Washington Association of School Administrators Region 109.

The WASA Student Achievement Leadership Award is presented to an individual or group who has provided leadership for the implementation of an innovation that has resulted in measurable growth in student achievement.

Along with Cofer, the district named Kids Kloset for its Community Leadership award.

The award recipients will be special guests at a recognition luncheon in May.

A second-grade teacher at Presidents Elementary School, Cofer is also a math teacher on special assignment as well as coordinator of the Respect program.

“Sarah epitomizes leadership for student achievement in the classroom, across the district and throughout our community,” according to the anonymous nomination.

“As a second-grade teacher, Sarah teaches in ways that meet each child’s learning style. As math teacher on special assignment, Sarah’s facilitation of math in-service days helped teachers to understand state performance expectations, created and aligned assessments, and took math curriculum to a whole new level in our district.”

As Respect program coordinator, Cofer has worked tirelessly over the past few years to empower Arlington students to positively impact their schools and the greater population.

“When our community experienced racist vandalism recently, she was the first on the scene to help residents clean up. Sarah makes a difference for students, staff, and our community every day.”

The WASA Community Leadership Award is presented to community members or groups in recognition of their contribution toward education. The ASD selected Arlington’s Kids’ Kloset, which opened in September 2005 by the efforts of a group of hardworking volunteers with the mission, “to enhance learning through nurtured self-esteem.”

Kids Kloset has provided clothing, free of charge, to many children in need in Arlington and neighboring school districts. In the fall of 2005 they provided complete wardrobes to 525 children. In the fall of 2008, they served more than 1,000.

Volunteers including community, school and special interest groups who provide support of many kinds, from remodeling of clothes, to sorting and ironing donations to mopping floors, offered 2,300 volunteer hours last year.

Most recently Kids’ Kloset offered a “Prom Room” where fancy dresses and accessories were offered in a fashion that made it easy for girls to feel special while finding a dress to wear to the prom.

On a shoestring budget, Kids’ Kloset meets the needs of children in a friendly, positive atmosphere and certainly does enhance their learning by helping them feel good about themselves.