WS Chronicle

For the second year in a row, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools named its Teacher of the Year, Principal of the Year, Classified Employee of the Year, and Assistant Principal of the Year at a banquet held on Thursday, May 23. Called the “Core Awards,” the event highlights and celebrates the employees that not only are exceptional educators, but that live the district’s Core Values. The Core Values include: equity, student-centered, accountability, integrity, high expectations, and collaboration. There were more than 150 nominees in all. Twelve finalists, three in each category, were showcased at the banquet.

The pool of licensed candidates (Teacher of the Year, Principal of the Year, Assistant Principal of the Year) includes individual school winners, as well as those nominated by the individual School Improvement Teams. The teachers and principals present a portfolio that follows state guidelines and calls for a series of essays, their educational background and their philosophies.  Different judging teams observe the teachers and each complete a series of interviews.  A district committee that interviewed them in the final round selected three finalists in each category.

The Classified candidates come from a variety of non-licensed positions such as teacher’s assistants, media assistants, testing coordinators, parent involvement coordinators, exceptional children’s assistants and more. These finalists were interviewed after submitting a portfolio of essays and philosophies applicable to their role.   

Each winner received $500 and a handmade, original glass trophy commissioned by glass artist David Russell. Winners from the Principal and Teacher of the Year categories have the opportunity to advance to the statewide competitions.

This year’s finalists include:

*Teacher of the Year: Abi Woodson, 4^th Grade Teacher at Speas Elementary. Abi has been teaching for 15 years and has been at Speas since 2012. Carrie French of Moore Elementary and Nicole Wooten of Caleb’s Creek Elementary were also finalists.

*Classified Employee of the Year: Sandra Shropshire, Financial/Lead Secretary at East Forsyth High School. Sandra has been at East Forsyth for 15 years. The other finalists were Margo Cochran of Northwest Middle and Angie Grace of Jefferson Elementary.

*Assistant Principal of the Year: Samantha Fitzgerald of Lewisville Elementary. Samantha has been at Lewisville since 2016. She joined Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in 2013 as a teacher. Tamatha Fullerwinder of Moore Elementary and Kendra Scott of Ashley Academy were also finalists.

*Principal of the Year:  Debra Gladstone was named Principal of the Year. Debra is Principal at Mineral Springs Elementary and Middle Schools. She has been with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools since 2000. Angie Choplin of Lewisville Elementary and Donald Wyatt of Sedge Garden Elementary were the other two finalists.

Flow Honda of Winston-Salem sponsored the Core Awards banquet. Lowes Foods and Leonard Ryden Burr Real Estate are also contributing sponsors.