Suffolk Public Schools Star Award winners are among the school system’s true standouts.

Winners in recent years have included bus drivers, elementary school teachers, middle school teachers, educational diagnosticians, and teacher assistants. They’ve been nominated by parents, students and other teachers.

The deadline for nominations for the current quarter is approaching, and once again, the school system is seeking help in identifying and honoring its best and brightest employees.

The Star Award is given out to one instructional staff member and one support staff member per quarter. All 1,600 employees of the school system are eligible to receive the awards. Any Suffolk Public Schools employee, parent, student or community member is eligible to nominate an employee.

Faye Goodwin, a past winner, is an educational diagnostician in Suffolk Public Schools. She was nominated by a middle school student for helping her overcome severe learning disabilities in reading.

Dorothy and Rudolph Carter were co-winners in fall 2007. She had been driving a bus since 1967, and he had been her bus aide since 1998. Their nominator wrote that every child considered them as grandparents.

Each school or department submits its nominations to the human resources department each quarter, and the star employees are selected from among the nominations. The selection committee includes representatives from parents’ and teachers’ groups, the PTA council, the bus drivers’ association, facilities and planning, the Suffolk Education Foundation, the Suffolk Education Association and other groups. Nominees not selected may be resubmitted for the next quarter.

All nominees receive a certificate of recognition. Those selected to receive the Star Award receive a certificate and a $50 savings bond, and they are featured in the employee newsletter and on the school Web site.

Nominees for the current quarter are due Oct. 15. To obtain a nomination form or for more information or guidelines, visit http://www.spsk12.net/departments/pi/staraward/staraward.htm.