Lewiston Education Association member Heidi Cornell, the 2025 Idaho Teacher of the Year, gave a presentation to the House Education Committee on Tuesday. The Idaho Teacher of the Year is traditionally invited to speak before the group; Cornell was introduced by Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield.
Cornell began with her personal mission statement: “My mission is that you feel deeply loved when you are with me,” she said. “When I state I want you to feel deeply loved when you are with me, that includes the easy to love, the unlovable and the ones who disagree with me.”
Cornell shared how she, and other educators in her district, have embraced the methods outlined in the classic 1989 book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. Thanks to a grant, the Lewiston Independent School District had become a “Seven Habits School” years earlier, Cornell said, which “allowed us to develop every student as a leader.”
The district began empowering educators to use Covey’s habits in their own professional development, hiring professional learning community leads in each elementary school. Cornell was asked to serve as the lead at Lewiston’s Orchards Elementary School, leaving the classroom to help her colleagues take their development to the next level.
“The first task of becoming a professional learning community district and school was going back to revamp our school mission, vision and values,” Cornell said. “I had the privilege to lead and collaborate with our guiding coalition to take a deep look at why we got into education in the first place, and then allow that to guide our values so we could make our mission and vision what we actually live out.”
Those guiding values led to four questions that shaped professional development at Orchards: What do students need to learn? How do we know if they learned it? What do we do if they haven’t learned it? What do we do if they already know it?
“Every staff member bought in when they started seeing every student grow,” Cornell said.
Cornell eventually returned to the classroom, but the professional development system she helped implement is still going strong, she said.
“What keeps us willing to work through all the challenges is how we are seeing an impact on every student,” she said.
Lawmakers were quick to ask questions about Cornell’s classroom experience — and share their praise.
“I’m super excited for you,” said Rep. Kyle Harris, (R-Lewiston). “I live in Lewiston. I represent that district, and it was really exciting for me … you were coming in and coming from Lewiston — so congratulations. Lewiston is thrilled for you.”
Towards the end of her appearance, the committee recognized Cornell with their traditional thank-you for the teacher of the year: A standing ovation.
“I can’t emphasize enough that it’s good to hear from actual educators,” Rep. Douglas Pickett (R-Oakley) said. “I hope you will return and that your (colleagues) will come and visit with us and share their thoughts and ideas.”
