May 10, 2017 To Whom It May Concern | am writing this letter to personally recommend Shelly Levitsky as not just a teacher but as a role model and champion for her students. My husband and I first came to know of Shelly in the 2015/2016 school year asa teacher in the IE class for our son, Alex. Shelly was able to work with him as he was going through a particularly difficult transition year and because of her responses to his actions, we were able to find out some things that were happening with Alex which resulted in a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder that mimics ADHD. Having never even met her at that time, we wanted to thank her because she never lost faith in him, yet remained fair in her treatment of him along with all other students. Fast forward to the next school year, and we were fortunate enough that Alex was selected to be in Shelly's class for his second-grade year. When we first met her, we were immediately impressed with how down-to-earth she is and how well she related to her students, but still delivered authority in her role that the kids respected her. In fact, my own son said that he wanted to work harder to ‘never let her down’ which speaks volumes for any child. | have watched my son go from an average reader and having average math skills along with social anxieties that stop him from always putting himself out there to be better to being ranked near the top of his grade level in math and reading and having friends now that he very much relies on. Shelly is open and communicative with the parents and will often let ‘me know things before my son is even off the bus and home so we can know them before he walks in to share with him. Shelly is equally fantastic with the parents and develops relationships with them that, fully demonstrate her in depth knowledge of each child’s needs and development and she works with the children to their individual capabilities, keeping their best interests in mind. On a personal note, Shelly has made time to appear at soccer practices and games, has attended events for her students that are important to them along with keeping a tutoring schedule along with her full- time teaching. | would be proud to have any of my children be a part of her class and believe that she is the exact type of educator our schools need today: intuitive, engaging, compassionate, and flexible. Her classroom dearly loves her and the loss of her in Revere’s system will be measurably felt. She will be a terrific add for her next school and students will be lucky to have her as a part of their lives. Sincerely, Kimberly M Koutris