County schools announce teachers of the year
It was a night of honors and accolades at the Marion County School District Board of Education meeting Monday.
Laura Leonard, a special education teacher from East Marion High School, was recognized as the District Teacher of the Year along with teachers of the year from each school. Jan Sears, director of the Carl Loftin Career and Technology Center, was named administrator of the year.
Superintendent Wendy Bracey introduced the winners.
“I want to say to you all how proud I am of you and you did a great job,” she said. “Their co-workers elect them from their schools. We also have a panel of three that interviewed all of them and made the selection for Teacher of the Year. Today all six of them were interviewed, and when the teachers left, the panel met with me to tell me who they had selected. I can’t tell you how proud I am because of all of the awesome things that they said about all of them.”
Teachers of the year included:
East Marion High, Laura Leonard, special education
“She’s been at East Marion for 16 years and she works in our special education department,” Principal Cindy Newsome said. “She’s stepped in and made sure that all of our kids are taken care and that all of our paperwork is done properly.”
“Panel members made the comment that they really didn’t realize how involved an inclusion teacher actually is,” Bracey said. “We’re very proud of her.”
East Marion Elementary, Amanda Stevens, kindergarten
“She has done a wonderful job since she’s been at our school,” East Marion Elementary School Principal Portia Hull said. “She sees the children in her class as her babies. She sees all of our students as her children.”
West Marion Primary, Mary Nell Livingston, third grade
“I’m originally from Louisiana, and 22 years ago I started work in Columbia and Miss Mary Nell and I worked together. She was kind of my mentor. We worked closely together and now we’re back together,” Principal Vicki Boone said. “I’m proud to say that she is West Marion Primary’s Teacher of the Year. She has 25 years of experience and she not only is an effective teacher and instructional leader in the classroom, she loves and motivates the kids. I appreciate everything she does. Our children today not only need to be taught, but they need to be loved and she definitely does that.”
West Marion Elementary, Angela Forbes, fifth grade
“We got so far back that I was in the flags and she twirled the rifle back in the band together in high school,” Bracey said. “Then, she taught my niece at Columbia Elementary School, and we went to church together at Woodlawn for several years. Then we actually worked together at West Marion Primary. We were teachers in the same building. Angela has always worked hard to be a good teacher, provide our students with the knowledge and care and things that they need.”
West Marion Elementary School Principal Sherrie Williams also spoke about Forbes.
“We’re just really proud of her,” she said. “I’ve worked with her a long time also. She’s worked very hard for this accomplishment.”
West Marion High, Steven Fortenberry, social studies
“The gentleman that we chose at West Marion High School has been teaching for 25 years,” Principal Gigi Dunaway said. “He came to us from Dexter. He is one of those people that if there is anything that I need done, I know that I can call on Mr. Fortenberry. He’s going to say, ‘Yes, ma’am, I’ll take care of it.’ I don’t have to go look behind him to see if he’s taken care of it. He’s going to take care of it. He has such passion, but the thing I like about him is his character. He teaches our children the books, yes, but he goes beyond that and tries to help our students be better citizens.”
Career center, Debbie Brumfield, career pathway instructor
“On Facebook sometimes, you’ll see things that pop up and say that there should be a class that teaches how to do a resume, go on a job interview or balance a checkbook,” Sears, the center’s director, said. “I just want to go out there and scream that we do. Miss Brumfield is our Teacher of the Year, and in my opinion, she probably teaches the most important class in all of Marion County because she teaches life skills. She helps her students get jobs, she teaches them how to live and be a better person. She also does anything I ask her to do. I could not make my day without her.”
The evening began with Bracey acknowledging School Resource Officer Brian Foxworth, who obtained his certification recently.
Bracey and Director of Curriculum and Instruction Michael Day then joined in honoring East Marion’s Newsome and West Marion’s Dunaway for their efforts in helping increase scores. Both high schools earned a “B” rating this past year. “Our high schools had both been ‘Cs’ and they both moved to ‘Bs’ last year and we had banners made for them to hang in their schools to remind people of how hard they worked and continue to work,” Bracey said.
Sears was then introduced as the District Administrator of the Year.
“She and I go back a long way,” Bracey said. “I’m very proud of her. Your coworkers chose you. The comments from them were very powerful.”
Bracey also presented a certificate to the Board: President Wendy Hammonds, Keith Stuckey, Jessie Graham, Richard Culliver and Larry Jenkins.
Pictured Above: Marion County School District Superintendent Wendy Bracey, left, awards East Marion High School’s Laura Leonard as the District Teacher of the Year during Monday night’s meeting. | Photo by Mark Rogers
