Being employee of the month holds both prestige and a sense of accomplishment.

On Friday 28 September 2012 at the John Gray High School Assembly Hall, Ms Lyneth Monteith, principal, was the first awardee for the Deputy Governor’s Award Scheme.

The Deputy Governor, the Hon Franz Manderson, who is also the Head of the Civil Service; Chief Officer of the Portfolio of Civil Service, Mrs Gloria McField-Nixon; Chief Officer of the Ministry of Education, Mrs Mary Rodrigues and Chief Education Officer, Mrs Shirley Wahler were present at the assembly to honour Ms Monteith.

Mr Manderson presented the award to Ms Monteith and later described the experience, saying, “It was with great pleasure that I was able to congratulate Ms Lyneth Monteith for being the first Civil Servant to be recognised as the Cayman Islands Government Employee of the Month – August 2012. The Deputy Governor’s Award programme was developed as an internal award scheme to recognise civil servants who exceed our expectations.”

He continued, “Ms Monteith has held a variety of leadership roles in secondary schools before her appointment as principal of the John Gray High School. She has proven herself to be a committed, caring and fair leader. Ms Monteith’s consistent, positive, careful and prudent management is demonstrated through the steady growth and improvement of the John Gray High School and the positive development of the students. I would like to again thank her for demonstrating such a remarkable level of performance and commitment to the Cayman Islands Government, and encourage all Civil Servants to continue to strive for excellence.”

Mrs Rodrigues was especially pleased that the first candidate for the awards scheme was a school principal. She said “I am truly delighted that the first Employee of the Month award has been given to Ms Lyneth Monteith. Ms Monteith is a shining example of a hardworking, dedicated civil servant and she is a true servant leader. I congratulate her on this recognition and thank her for her outstanding contribution to our children and education system.”

Ms Monteith was very surprised by the honour of being the first recipient and stated, “I am humbled at being the first recipient of this award. I knew that I wanted to be a teacher from a very young age and I had an excellent role model in my mother who drove my passion and dedication for my job.”

She continued, “I am committed to ensuring that my school provides the best educational experience for the students in our care as we prepare them to be tomorrow’s leaders.”

The Deputy Governor’s accolades are an internal rewards scheme for civil servants, who will be nominated within their departments on a monthly basis. The awards set high standards which are expected from all Cayman Islands civil servants.