The Board of Cooperative Educational Services Lower Hudson Regional Information Center (that’s BOCES LHRIC, if you want to get all acronym-y) give out Pioneer Awards each year to recognize technological excellence. Specifically, “in recognition for innovative use of technology that change teaching and learning.”

This year, Brewster received two: Administrator of the Year and Teacher of the Year. There’s usually just four or five of these awards given (the entire list isn’t up on the LHRIC site yet, so I don’t know all the winners), so that’s pretty impressive.

Here’s an e-mail I just received from the Brewster Central School District (I’ve always loved the name of the street district offices are on: Farm to Market Road) about its awards:

Last night, the Brewster Board of Education recognized Steven Moskowitz and Peter LaMoreaux for their achievement in receiving Pioneer Awards from the Lower Hudson Regional Information Center (BOCES.) Steven Moskowitz was awarded the Administrator of the Year Award, and Peter LaMoreaux was awarded the Teacher of the Year.

The Pioneer Awards are given every year to a school district, administrator and teacher in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties by the Lower Hudson Regional Information Center. The awards are in recognition of innovative use of technology that changes teaching and learning. This is the first time in recent memory where two Pioneer Award winners were selected from the same school district.

Mr. LaMoreaux has been in the Brewster Central School District for six years. A high school Physics teacher, he uses technology with his students to promote inquiry based learning, and has posted numerous student projects on his web site. He is the technology leader in the high school and in charge of the video production program as well.

Mr. Moskowitz started in Brewster in 2000, and has implemented numerous technology initiatives throughout the district, including Smartboards, Student Management Systems, websites for teachers and students, and more. Many programs and functions have become automated, and the Brewster website contains information on numerous programs and offerings.

The formal award will be given this Friday night at the annual Pioneer Awards Recognition Dinner held at the Rye Town Hilton. Additional information is available on the Brewster Web Site, at www.brewsterschools.org, and at the Lower Hudson Regional Information Center, www.lhric.org.