But her history in Los Gatos goes back even further. She grew up here, and her parents still live in Los Gatos. She was a member of the first graduating class at Fisher in 1962 and a graduate of Los Gatos High School. She also met her husband while teaching at Fisher, and both of her children went through the district's school system.

With these longtime ties to education, Herberich was officially recognized on Sept. 22 as the district's Teacher of the Year. The 34th annual award reception, hosted by the Santa Clara County Office of Education, was held at the San Jose Repertory Theatre in downtown San Jose.

Herberich said she was surprised by the news. But the unexpected award comes a result of a devotion to her students.

She teaches 125 seventh and eighth grade students in five French classes every school day in portable 28. Herberich offers a teaching and tutoring program (TNT) for students after school who need to make up missed tests. She is also the school's adviser for the California Junior Scholarship Federation, a scholastic academic program she started at Fisher in honor of her mentor, the late Fred Keplinger, who was the CSF advisor at Los Gatos High School.

Herberich, who speaks fluent French, said her teaching inspiration has always comes from Keplinger, her French teacher when she attended high school. Keplinger's wife still lives in Los Gatos.

Susan Frey, president of the Los Gatos Elementary Teachers' Association and also a teacher at Fisher, said Herberich was nominated for the district award by many of her fellow teachers and is deserving of the honor.

"Jane is very, very hard-working, but quiet and modest about what she does," Frey said. "She really cares about her students. She has been instrumental in our after-school tutoring program. She just does it behind the scenes."

A graduate of UC-Santa Barbara, Herberich spent her junior year of college in 1968 at l'Université de Bordeaux, France.

"I love the culture. I love the art, history and language," she said. "Every other summer when I take my students to Paris, I never get tired of seeing them see France for the first time."

She said one of her favorite pleasures is seeing the light in the eyes of her students when they really start to understand how to read and speak French.

"It's a high point to be able to do something like that," she said.

Herberich also knows what it's like to be a parent in the district. She and her husband raised their two daughters, now 27 and 23, in Los Gatos, and Herberich was a member of the Home and School Club. She added that she wouldn't be teaching today without the wonderful staff she works with at Fisher.

"They are a very dynamic group of people," she said. "There's so much energy and so many ideas going around. They really have the child's best interests first."