TAPT Honoree 2002-03

Superintendent Erwin A. Sladek, Jr & his wife Bonnie

This morning our honoree can be compared to some of our past honorees. The first two names that come to mind are Ray Westmoreland and Don Paull who believed that TAPT was an organization for giving its members valuable information and training. Another pair of names that come forth, are Conwell Smith and Gabe Gilley who worked to see that the membership could learn from the exhibits and trade show, as well as be abreast of t he latest rules and regulations from TEA. And finally to Diane Sherwood, whose memory of the organization was incredible. Our honoree today…likewise has taken those past experiences to help many understand how these experiences can be great teaching tools.

Our honoree was born and raised in rural Texas. It was the early training and education that taught our honoree that hard work did not hurt a person, that going to church each Sunday taught you Christian values, and that an education was important in this ever changing world.

While in high school, it was not unusual to have our honoree play a football game on Friday night, and when he arrived home to either leave with a load of hay that would be carried to Houston, or to load rodeo stock and go to a rodeo. Once the rodeo was over, he would reload the stock, head for home, and be ready for church on Sunday morning

Upon completion of high school, our honoree went to Blinn College and then transferred to Texas A&M University, where he obtained his Bachelors Degree. He attended the University of Houston at Victoria where he received his Masters in Educational Administration.

Our honoree began his teaching career at Victoria I.S.D. His teaching profession was interrupted when Uncle Sam drafted him for service. He served his country in Vietnam with the United States Army in the Military Police Corp. After serving his time in the services, he returned to Victoria to teach 8^th grade science. His career has taken our honoree from middle school teacher, to middle school assistant principal, to high school principal, to assistant superintendent, and to superintendent.

In 1978, he married the young lady of his dreams, that recently within the past few days celebrated a milestone birthday. In 1983, our honoree was asked to become a School Bus Driver Trainee, and teach the 20 – hour certification course and 8 – hour refresher course. Because of this, our honoree got his first taste of TAPT when he attended the 1984 State Conference. This gave our honoree his beginning in our state organization and he has never looked back.

Our honoree became interested in the certification program when the committee met. He would visit with the members, and because of his knowledge and interest was asked to be an instructor.

He taught a class or two at every conference since 1991.
He served as chairperson of the companion committee in 1996.
He chaired or co-chaired the certification committee for the last five years.
He has been a presenter at the local, regional, state and national conferences.
He has been instrumental in bringing new courses/classes to the certification program.
He has been instrumental in getting the Texas Association of School Boards involved in our classes and bringing the knowledge and expertise to our certification program.
He has traveled throughout the state to train individual school’s bus drivers.
He teaches the Presentation Skills course for TAPT instructors
He is acknowledged as being selected Region 13 Superintendent of the Year and in the top sixteen for Superintendent of the Year Award for Texas in 1998 and as one of forty superintendents from Texas to participate in the Superintendent’s Academy in 1999, which involved participation in IBM’s Leadership Training Institute in New York. In May, 2003, our honoree was one of sixteen superintendents from the southeastern states selected to participate in a Leadership Institute in New Orleans focused on Education in the 21^st Century and sponsored by Apple Computer. Besides school superintendents and college deans from the southeastern states, Directors of Education from Australia also were participants in the institute. Currently, our honoree represents Region 13 as one of the twenty superintendents in Texas serving on the Education Commissioner’s Advisory Cabinet.
Our honoree did not forget his responsibilities back home, and many times he would leave a state conference, to go home to take care of School Board meeting business, then return during the night to be back for the next morning events and workshops.

It is with great pride that we the Executive Committee have selected as the 33^rd State TAPT Honoree for the 2003 Conference.

Mr. Erwin A. “Bugger” Sladek, Jr.

Presented by Jaime Gallego

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