CCSD Educators, Volunteers and Students Honored by PTA

Individual employee first-place award winners beginning at top left in order as listed below.

Cherokee County School District students, educators and volunteers were honored by the PTA with regional awards!

The Georgia PTA District 13 Spring Conference & Awards Ceremony, which recently was held at R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy, recognized outstanding PTA volunteers, teachers, nurses, administrators and students from Cherokee and Forsyth Counties.

“Tonight, we will be celebrating you and all the hard work you have done this school year,” District 13 Director Brenda Page said.  “Thank you to all our PTA leaders, teachers, school staff and community partners.”

CCSD teachers were honored with the District 13 Birney Butler Outstanding Educator award, which recognizes professional excellence and exemplary contributions to instructing students: for Elementary School, less than 750 students, first place, Cameron “Cammie” Johnston of Johnston ES and second place, Tiffany Sperin of Ball Ground ES STEM Academy; for Elementary School, more than 750 students, first place, Jana Cervone of Bascomb ES; second place, Lisa Boysen of Clark Creek ES STEM Academy; and third place, Olivia Byess, Hickory Flat ES; for Middle School, first place, Officer Samira Rezaghalizadeh of Mill Creek MS; and for High School, first place, Keara Rubin of River Ridge HS.  Caitlin Celidonio of Liberty ES earned the Outstanding Educator Collaborator Award, and Shavon Deal of Little River ES earned the Outstanding Educator Family Engagement Award, 

The District 13 Outstanding Nurse Award, which honors school nurses for going above and beyond, was presented to: for Elementary School, less than 750 students, first place, Betty Miller of Arnold Mill ES and second place, Kim Bishop of Ball Ground ES STEM Academy; for Elementary School, more than 750 students, first place, Joy Harrison of Clark Creek ES STEM Academy; second place, Leisha Smith of R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy and third place, Chelsie Stehlik of Little River ES; and for Middle School, first place, Heather Chappell of E.T. Booth MS.

The inaugural Carol Rice Nurse Advocate Award was presented to Gwen Chambers, the first nurse hired for CCSD schools in 1988 who recently retired after a long and successful career and now works at Reinhardt University.

The Outstanding Principal Award recognizes principals or assistant principals for outstanding contributions to education: for Elementary School, less than 750 students, first place, Principal Daniel Fuller of Arnold Mill ES, second place, Assistant Principal Amy Walker of Johnston ES and third place, Principal Dr. Ashley Kennerly of Sixes ES; for Elementary School, more than 750 students, first place, Principal Matt Kimbrell of R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy and second place, Principal Joni Adams of Little River ES; for Middle School, first place, Principal Kathie Monti of Teasley MS; second place, Principal Matthew May of Mill Creek MS and third place, Assistant Principal Gordon Swordsma of E.T. Booth MS; for High School, first place, Principal Mark Smith of ACTIVE Academies.

The Visionary Award recognizes dedicated service to students and outstanding collaboration with PTA.  This year’s awards were presented to: Etowah HS Key Club for Bascomb ES, Yudy Soro for Teasley MS, Kristie Duncan for Cherokee HS, Dana Gardner and Kim Welch for Liberty ES, Susan Byberg for Little River ES and Kim George for Mill Creek MS.

PTA Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Kim Crosby, Michelle Dodd, Susan Honea, Lara Hughes, Heather Lawless, Heather Migneco and Amanda Weber.

School PTA units were honored with various awards for their school and outreach activities, community partnerships and reaching membership goals.  

The top honor, Outstanding Local Unit, recognizes PTA units for success in all areas.  This year’s winners are: for Elementary School, less than 750 students, first place, Johnston ES; second place, Arnold Mill ES and third place, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy; for Elementary School, more than 750 students, first place, Clark Creek ES STEM Academy; second place, Little River ES and third place, R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy; for Middle School, first place, Mill Creek MS; second place, E.T. Booth MS and third place, Teasley MS; and for High School, first place, ACTIVE Academies and second place, River Ridge HS.

Eight school PTAs earned Model PTA status for maintaining exceptionally high standards of excellence: ACTIVE Academies, Arnold Mill ES, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, Bascomb ES, Clark Creek ES STEM Academy, E.T. Booth MS, Freedom MS, Johnston ES, Little River ES, Mill Creek MS, R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy, River Ridge HS and Teasley MS.

School PTAs earned Hearst Family–School Partnership awards for excellence in bringing the school and community together to support student success: for all six national standards, Clark Creek ES STEM Academy, Johnston ES, Little River ES, Mill Creek MS and River Ridge HS; for multiple standards, Bascomb ES and Liberty ES; for individual standards, Arnold Mill ES, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, E.T. Booth MS and Teasley MS.

The three PTA units with the greatest membership growth by percentage are: Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, 190%; Hasty ES Fine Arts Academy, 113 % and ACTIVE Academies, 74%.

School PTAs earned Oaktree Awards for achieving 100% PTA membership among school staff: ACTIVE Academies, Clark Creek ES STEM Academy, Free Home ES, Little River ES, River Ridge HS and Teasley MS.

School PTAs received Community Partners awards for acquiring more than 30 community partners by the end of the first quarter: Bascomb ES, Clark Creek ES STEM Academy, Little River ES, Mill Creek MS and Teasley MS.

Three levels of membership awards were presented: Visionary (more than 400 members by Aug. 31), Pace Setters (more than 300 members by Aug. 31) and Early Bird (more than 200 members by Sept. 30).

Visionary winners are: Arnold Mill ES, Bascomb ES, Little River ES, Mill Creek MS, River Ridge HS and Woodstock ES.  Pace Setters winners include Visionary winners and Clark Creek ES STEM Academy, Hasty ES Fine Arts Academy and Johnston ES.  Early Bird winners include Visionary and Pace Setters winners and Creekland MS, Indian Knoll ES and Knox ES STEM Academy.

Ten CCSD students received educational scholarships to be used to enrichment activities: Parker Giles, River Ridge HS; Sofia Meeks, E.T. Booth MS; Colin O’Brien, Dean Rusk MS; Joshua Oglesby, Arnold Mill ES; Rishabh Pandya, Clark Creek ES STEM Academy; Rohan Pandya, Etowah HS; Hudson Tate Poole, Hickory Flat ES; Abigail Rickert, Creekview HS; Ayden Sewell, Mill Creek MS; and Cameron Zanger, Little River ES.

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