Friday was more award show than business meeting for the Lowndes County School District school board.
The board recognized its administrator, teacher and parent of the year, along with several teachers honored for outstanding accomplishments.
Roger Hill racked up the seventh Administrator of the Year award of his 33-year tenure as principal at Caledonia Elementary after his school earned “High Performing” status based on last year”s Mississippi Curriculum test.
Caledonia Elementary earned a Level 5 ranking — the highest rank available — the previous two years under the old accountability model and narrowly missed “Star School” status this year.
“Our test scores were really high. I think that had something to do with it,” said Hill, pondering his selection as the top administrator.
Hill was also named a finalist for Mississippi Administrator of the Year in 2003. He has multiple national and statewide accomplishments to his credit, including being among the first Reading and Math Renaissance schools in the country.
As any good leader does, Hill deferred credit to his team.
“Anytime I receive a recognition like this it”s because of the hard work of the staff. I”m the leader, but they”re the ones that do the work,” said Hill.
But Lowndes County Superintendent Mike Halford wasn”t willing to let Hill escape without any praise.
“Roger Hill is the hardest working administrator I”ve probably ever been around. Caledonia”s test scores are what they are because of Roger Hill and his expectations of his students, his teachers and himself,” said Halford.
The district”s Teacher of the Year award went to 28-year veteran Margaret Reed, who, after spending 27 of those years at New Hope schools, will call it a career at the end of this year.
“The biggest thing we”ll lose is the fact that 150 students won”t get to experience her teaching in a classroom,” said Halford of Reed”s retirement. “The students will really miss out.”
Reed, who teaches social studies at New Hope Middle School, has also taught math, English and science in third, seventh and eighth grades. Humbled by the award, she guessed it was the culmination of “all my years of teaching and loving kids and wanting the best for them.”
Reed, an active volunteer who visited the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, says she”s not sure how she”ll spend her retirement other than doing “whatever the Lord has in store.”
The district”s Parent of the Year award went to a first-timer, so to speak.
Denielle Birks” daughter, Margaret, is in kindergarten at New Hope Elementary and her son, Benjamin, is still in preschool.
But in just one year, Birks set herself apart from other parent volunteers by authoring a Go-Green grant which laid the foundation for her daughter”s school to establish and maintain a recycling program.
Birks is also a member of the Parent Teacher Organization and serves as a Room Parent Organizer, Parent Volunteer Coordinator and volunteers in PTO fundraising events.
Joe York, principal at New Hope Elementary, says Birks “exemplifies the importance and impact parents can and do have on our school.”
Birks is a regular presence in her daughter”s class, leading arts and crafts activities, reading books and organizing celebrations on a weekly basis.
“I just help the teacher so she can spend more time in the classroom teaching,” said Birks.
Several other district employees also received special recognition at Friday”s meeting. Caledonia High School physics teacher Terry Wiygul was honored for being named Teacher of the Year by the Mississippi Educational Computing Association and Caledonia Elementary fifth grade teacher Gina Guess was recognized for helping her students broadcast their writings statewide as part of Mississippi Public Broadcasting”s Rural Voices Radio program.
Pat Freeman, widow of the late Glenn Freeman, accepted a proclamation from the board recognizing her husband”s service. Glenn Freeman, who passed in January, served as a part-time bus driver and transportation manager at Caledonia schools.
“He was one of those people that just loved Caledonia,” said Halford. “He was a driver and he made sure the busses were gassed up. We may have paid him for four hours a day but he worked forever.
“He always had a smile, even when he lost his son. You just don”t have those type of people anymore.”
Freeman”s son, Brian, was killed in duty in Iraq several years ago. A scholarship was established in his name at Caledonia High School.
Lowndes County Board Member John Clark, a friend and fellow member of Kolola Springs Baptist Church with the Freeman”s, said Freeman was the driving force and main contributor behind Caledonia”s Freedom Park and was quick to lend financial support to struggling community members.
“They were just the type of people you don”t find everyday,” said Clark.
One additional recognition went to Elise Cook, a fourth-grader at Caledonia Elementary, for placing as the runner-up in 2010 Lowndes County Spelling Bee.
In one brief item of business, the board accepted bids for roof projects around the district.
Neil Waggoner, an architect with JBHM engineers, presented the board with low bids for roof work at Caledonia schools ($900,000), West Lowndes Middle School and Central Office ($580,000) and New Hope schools ($2 million).
“We did a survey of all district roofs to decide on the areas in need and we researched all existing warranties. Once these projects are done, every roof in the county will be under warranty,” said Waggoner.
The roof construction projects are scheduled to be completed by July 30.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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