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| Head of the class: Obion County Teachers of the Year honored |
By: Chris Menees, Staff Reporter
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Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 9:03 pm
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Head of the class: Obion County Teachers of the Year honored
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By CHRIS MENEES
Staff Reporter
The Obion County School Board honored the best of the best Monday night.
Thirteen outstanding edu-cators chosen as this year’s building level and district level Teachers of the Year were recognized by the board during its monthly session, held in the library at Obion County Central High School.
The district winners are South Fulton Elementary first-grade teacher Kelli Kail, pre-K-4; Lake Road Elementary fifth-grade math teacher Emily Cross, grades 5-8; and South Fulton High School English and psychology teacher Greg Barclay, grades 9-12.
Each of them was also honored as the building level winner for their respective school.
Mrs. Kail graduated from Hickman County High School in 1996 and earned her degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 2000. She and her husband, Mack Kail, are the parents of two children,Brady and Sarah.
Mrs. Cross is a 1999 graduate of OCCHS who earned her degree from UT Martin in 2003. She is married to Jacob Cross, assistant principal at Union City High School, and they are the parents of a daughter, Jenna Kate.
Barclay graduated from South Fulton High School in 1998 and earned degrees in 2002 and 2004 from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He and his wife, Carmen, have a daughter, Caroline.
The other building level pre-K-4 honorees from the Obion County School System include Black Oak Elementary fifth-grade math and science teacher Jenny Wilder, Hillcrest Elementary third-grade teacher Deanna Wilson, Lake Road Elementary kindergarten teacher Angie Partin and Ridgemont Elementary second-grade teacher Becky Bogle.
Mrs. Wilder, who graduated from OCCHS in 1984, earned a bachelor of science degree in 1988 and a master of science degree in 1998 from UT Martin. She and her husband, Brian Wilder, are the parents of a daughter, Brianne.
Mrs. Wilson graduated from OCCHS and UT Martin. She is married to Clint Wilson.
Mrs. Partin is a 1993 graduate of OCCHS who earned her degree in 1998 from UT Martin. She and her husband, Tim Partin, have two children, Avery and Lane.
Mrs. Bogle graduated from Dyersburg High School in 1977 and from UT Martin in 1981. She is married to Joe Bogle and they are the parents of a daughter, Tiffany.
From grades 5-8, the additional building level honorees include Black Oak science and math teacher Richard Lynn, Hillcrest geography and American history teacher Jennifer Kerr, Ridgemont band and music teacher Edward Pledge and South Fulton Middle School sixth-grade reading/language teacher Tammy Sisson.
Lynn graduated from the former Kenton High School and then from UT Martin in 1981. He teaches seventh- and eighth-grade science and sixth-grade math at Black Oak.
Mrs. Kerr, who teaches seventh-grade geography and eighth-grade American history at Hillcrest, is a 1989 graduate of David Lipscomb High School in Nashville and a 1993 graduate of UT Martin. She is married to Jon Kerr and they have two children, Kathryn Grace and Bradyn Wesley.
Pledge graduated from Dyer County High School in 1991 and then from Murray (Ky.) State University in 1996 and the University of Missouri at Columbia in 2001.
Mrs. Sisson is a 1981 graduate of SFHS and a 1987 graduate of UT Martin. She and her husband, Mike Sisson, have four children, Brandt, Paxton, Haeven and McCade.
The other building level winners from grades 9-12 include Career Technology Center carpentry teacher Coby Watts and OCCHS Algebra I teacher Ricky Conner.
Watts graduated from Union City High School in 1997. He is married to Kim Watts and they have one child, Carter.
Conner is a 1969 graduate of OCCHS who earned his degree in 1973 from UT Martin. He and his wife, Pat Conner, are the parents of two grown children, Brian Conner and Dana Conner.
Student honors
In addition to Teachers of the Year, the board also recognized OCCHS’ Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) regional winners; OCCHS’ Academic Decathlon regional and state winners; and the Student Congress on Policies in Education (SCOPE) delegates from OCCHS and SFHS.
The HOSA students placed at regional competition at Union University in Jackson, where they competed in medical-related events with students from the regions of upper and lower West Tennessee. As a result, several advanced to the state level and will be traveling to Nashville in April for competition. Participants included Kendall Fielder, Chelsea Boyd, Zach Tucker, Teal Ford, Krysten Harris, Josh Gale, Katelin Hayes, Ethan Rudd, Shane Walley, Samantha Scott, Leann Staser, Mandi McDaniel, Madi Bell, Katie Hardin, Mariah Adkins, Byron Brown, Ashley Barbour, Drew Crews, Lydia Morris, Lindsey King and Darrin Howard. Their advisors are Michelle Johnston, RN, and Vicki Crenshaw, RN.
An innovative T-shirt design submitted by OCCHS’ HOSA chapter was also chosen as the official State HOSA T-shirt at regional competition.
The school board also learned HOSA students recently collected about $2,250 for Haitian earthquake victims by holding a “coin war” among grade levels at OCCHS.
OCCHS’ Academic Decathlon team fared extremely well in regional competition in January at Haywood High School and at state competition in February at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, bringing home several medals in several subjects from both competitions. Winners included honor team members Michael Ruddy, Kacee Warren and Reid Wiggins; scholastic team members Josh Moore, Kacee Sanders and Jordan Smith; and varsity team members Levi Bell, Tim Moore and Chase Roney.
Overall, the team earned a second place trophy at regionals and a fourth place trophy at state competition.
Ruddy received a $1,000 scholarship, while Miss Sanders received a $300 scholarship, according to Academic Decathlon team coach Jim West, a longtime educator at OCCHS who has seen teams travel to state competition 18 times.
The SCOPE delegates on hand to observe Monday night’s school board meeting were OCCHS students Katie Beth Vancleave and Reid Wiggins and SFHS students Derek Giffin and Hannah Morris. They will attend SCOPE later this week in Nashville.
Other action
In other action during Monday night’s meeting, which was opened with prayer led by board member Diane Sanderson, the school board:
• Accepted the resignation of board member Glynn Giffin due to health issues.
• Approved a consent agenda that includes a monthly personnel report, monthly substitute teachers report and monthly financial reports.
The personnel report lists the resignations of systemwide director of technology Darbin Ousley and Hillcrest federal educational assistant Heather May; the retirements of OCCHS teacher Jim West, diagnostician Vicki Reed, Black Oak teacher Peggy Short and OCCHS federal educational assistant Jo King; and leaves of absence for Lake Road teacher Jennifer Robertson (extension of leave), Ridgemont teacher Jentrie Coffey and bus drivers Billie Teeters, Diane Cheatham and Deborah L. Barker.
The substitute teachers approved for the month include Bryon Freeman, Ashley Ragon, Kathryn Ramsey and Marion Gray.
• Approved the calendar for the 2010-11 school year. (Editor’s note: The full calendar will be published on The Messenger’s Education Page in an upcoming edition.)
The first day of classes will be Aug. 2, with the last day currently scheduled for a half-day on May 19, 2011. Fall break is scheduled for Oct. 9-17 and spring break for March 12-20, 2011.
Obion County Director of Schools David Huss said the school calendar committee met “diligently,” taking various ideas back to their respective schools for discussion and returning with different requests. He said although they do not especially like the date set for the first day of school, with a change in TCAP testing affecting elementary schools and the change in block scheduling affecting the high schools, beginning school on Aug. 2 was the only real alternative.
In a related matter, Huss told the board he recently sought faculty input for a contingency plan in the event there is ever a need for making up missed school days. There are 13 days stockpiled.
Of those who responded, 71 percent want to leave things as they currently are, while 29 percent are in favor of some sort of make-up plan for worst-case scenarios. Huss explained he is looking at the situation from an academic standpoint and would like to have a plan utilizing input from teachers.
• Approved three budget amendments to the General Purpose School and School Federal Projects Funds, which brings the system’s budgets in line with state Department of Education recommendations.
• Approved a video camera system and magnetic lock assembly for the Career Technology Center, with a low bid of $14,310 accepted from EduTech.
• Approved three requests to declare property surplus and to dispose of it via the most economical method. They include old computer equipment from the technology department and surplus football jerseys and boys’ basketball uniforms, both of which are outdated, from OCCHS. The jerseys and uniforms will be sold as fundraisers.
• Approved nine overnight student trips, including those for OCCHS’ Academic Decathlon team; the SCOPE delegates; OCCHS’ Future Teachers of America, FFA, HOSA, Beta Club and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America; and SFHS’ FFA and Future Business Leaders of America.
• Considered a motion by board member David Lamb that support staff be paid for snow days, similar to what is done for teachers. The motion died for lack of a second.
• Was reminded the annual school board retreat will be held March 26 at the Obion County Public Library.
Board members Susan Williams and Giffin were absent Monday night.
Staff Reporter Chris Menees may be contacted by e-mail at cmenees@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger 3.9.10
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