Barbi Kelley.(Courtesy photo)
Barbi Kelley, longtime physical education teacher in Harvard, has received the Joseph McKenney Award for distinguished service from the Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. That is the highest award the association can bestow, according to its website.
“I’m really honored to be receiving this award,” Kelley wrote in an email to the Press. “I had a wonderful 30 years teaching at the Harvard Elementary School.”
In a letter supporting Kelley’s nomination for the award, School Superintendent Linda Dwight wrote, “Barbi shone most when she was teaching students. They entered a room filled with positive affirmation, support, modeling, and fun. She deemphasized competition and built cooperation and skills. Students fell in love with physical activity and found joy in her classes.”
While at HES, Kelley was a department head for seven years. She emphasized the importance of health education, encouraging the hiring of health teachers for the elementary school and the middle school. She also worked to have health classes added as a high school graduation requirement.
Kelley retired from full-time teaching at HES but is now an adjunct professor of elementary physical education methods at Salem State University. She also supervises student teacher candidates there
