CCSD Educators, Volunteers and Students Honored by District PTA

CCSD's Georgia PTA District 13 first-place winners for teacher, staff and leader honors.

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

The Georgia PTA District 13 Spring Conference & Awards Ceremony recognized outstanding PTA volunteers, teachers, nurses, and administrators from Cherokee and Forsyth Counties, who now advance for consideration for statewide awards.  The Cherokee County Council PTA additionally presented annual awards for excellence to CCSD school staff and school PTAs, and District 13 also awarded student scholarships.  

Congratulations to the honorees, thank you to the Cherokee County Council PTA and Georgia PTA District 13 for their valued partnership, and thank you to our School Board for its longtime support of PTA!

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, fifth-grade teacher Brittany Stallings of Johnston ES; for Elementary School, more than 750 students, STEM teacher Shaniqua Young of Little River ES; for Middle School, eighth-grade science teacher Ann Margaret Somers of Mill Creek MS; for High School, media specialist Savannah Holcomb of River Ridge HS.  The Cherokee County Council PTA honored these educators as well as: second-grade teacher Sharyle Bloudof of Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, and speech language pathologists Chris Kramer and Camille Leake of Bascomb ES. 

The District 13 and Cherokee County Council PTA Outstanding Nurse Awards, which honor school nurses for going above and beyond, were presented to: for Middle School, Angie Milko of Teasley MS; for High School, Liz Ray of ACTIVE Academies.

The District 13 Outstanding Principal Award recognizes principals or assistant principals for outstanding contributions to education: for Elementary School, less than 750 students, Arnold Mill ES Principal Daniel Fuller; for Elementary School, more than 750 students, Little River ES Assistant Principal Lacey Bass; for Middle School, Mill Creek MS Principal Justin Sanderson; and for High School, first place, Cherokee HS Principal Andy Hall.  The Cherokee County Council PTA honored these leaders as well as: Ball Ground ES STEM Academy Principal Melinda Roulier, Knox ES STEM Academy Principal Jennifer McIntosh, and R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy Principal Kim Moody.

The District 13 Visionary Award recognizes dedicated service to students and outstanding collaboration with PTA.  This year’s honorees are: school counselor Amanda Bridgewater, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy; CCSD Police Officer Eddie Gibney, Teasley MS; school counselor Madonna Mezzanotte, Little River ES; and CCSD Police Officer Tyler Thomas, River Ridge HS.  Cherokee County Council PTA honored these recipients as well as: marketing teacher Amber Ferguson of Mill Creek MS; and school counselors Kim Holstein and Krystle Lopez of Bascomb ES and the Bascomb ES PTA Board. 

School PTA units were honored with various District 13 and Cherokee County Council 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 District 13 winners are: for Elementary School, less than 750 students, Johnston ES; for Elementary School, more than 750 students, Little River ES; for Middle School, Teasley MS; and for High School, River Ridge HS.  Cherokee County Council PTA honored these winners as well as Arnold Mill ES, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, Bascomb ES, Knox ES STEM Academy, Mill Creek MS, and R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy.

Eleven school PTAs earned District 13 and Cherokee County Council Model PTA status for maintaining exceptionally high standards of excellence: ACTIVE Academies, Arnold Mill ES, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, Bascomb ES, Johnston ES, Knox ES STEM Academy, 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 from District 13 and the Cherokee County Council for excellence in bringing the school and community together to support student success: for all six national standards, Bascomb ES, Johnston ES, Little River ES, and Mill Creek MS; for individual standards, Arnold Mill ES, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy, River Ridge HS, and Teasley MS.

School PTAs earned Oaktree Awards from District 13 and the Cherokee County Council for achieving 100% PTA membership among school staff: Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, Clayton ES, Free Home ES, Freedom MS, Hickory Flat ES, Johnston ES, Knox ES STEM Academy, Little River ES, R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy, and Teasley MS.

School PTAs received District 13 Community Partners awards for acquiring more than 30 community partners by the end of the first quarter: Hickory Flat ES, Little River ES, and Mill Creek MS.  Hickory Flat ES and Mill Creek MS PTA units additional earned Cherokee County Council PTA Partnership Membership Awards.

Three levels of membership awards were presented by District 13 and the Cherokee County Council to school PTAs: 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, Avery ES, Hickory Flat ES, Little River ES, Mill Creek MS, and River Ridge HS.  Pace Setters winners include Visionary winners and Bascomb ES, E.T. Booth MS, and Johnston ES.  Early Bird winners include Visionary and Pace Setters winners and Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, Boston ES, Clark Creek ES STEM Academy, Clayton ES, Creekland MS, Dean Rusk MS, Freedom MS, Hasty ES Fine Arts Academy, Indian Knoll ES, Knox ES STEM Academy, Liberty ES, Macedonia ES, Sixes ES, Teasley MS, Woodstock ES, and Woodstock MS.

District 13 Best Idea Awards were presented to the school PTAs for: ACTIVE Academies, Arnold Mill ES, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, Bascomb ES, Holly Springs ES STEM Academy, Johnston ES, Little River ES, Mill Creek MS, R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy, and Teasley MS.  Excellence in areas of service awards were presented by District 13 to the school PTAs for: Holly Springs ES STEM Academy, Johnston ES, Little River ES, Oak Grove ES STEAM Academy, and Woodstock ES.

Six CCSD students received District 13 educational scholarships to be used for enrichment activities: Colette Byberg of Little River ES, Leila Gonzalez of Little River ES, Rishabh Pandya of E.T. Booth MS, Rohan Pandya of Etowah HS, Kathryn Rickert of Creekview HS, and Zephyn Stonebraker of Arnold Mill ES.

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