Renowned actress Drew Barrymore, the host of the nationally-televised Drew Barrymore Show in New York on CBS, surprised Plummer Elementary 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year Patricia Byrd on Thursday morning.
Barrymore went on the school’s intercom to call Byrd down to the front office. When she arrived, Barrymore surprised Byrd with her presence – and much more.
Byrd’s ecstatic family and friends were on hand, outside Plummer, as Barrymore presented her with a free trip to Key Largo, Florida and a $20,000 donation for a new playground at Plummer – the district’s second-oldest elementary campus.
“I am so blessed to receive this amazing surprise,” Byrd said. “I attribute it to my strong faith in God. And as you can tell from the photos, I was incredibly surprised when Drew Barrymore showed up to surprise me.”
Next month, Barrymore will fly Byrd to New York to appear live on her television show.
Byrd became a teacher in 1986 and in the early 1990s, she made her foray into educational administration.
In the early 2000s, she became the first African American Principal at Bray Elementary as well as a Principal at West Intermediate. She eventually rose to the superintendent of a charter school before retiring from education.
Byrd came out of retirement after her beloved husband, Lawrence, was diagnosed with Cancer.
Her story had been told on WFAA-ABC last year and KXAS-NBC this year, and producers from the Drew Barrymore Show reached out to Cedar Hill ISD last month.
It wasn’t until recently when the district learned that Barrymore herself would be traveling to Cedar Hill.
Original source can be found here.
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