This WeekAugust 30, 2016 Volume 30, No. 3

Dream Team Snapshots Wise wins prestigious Presidential Award

for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching

The 2016-2017 school year is off to a great start for Richland One students and employees. It’s been full speed ahead since classes began on August 15. Here are a few snapshots of the #R1DreamTeam in action!

• Our bus drivers (bottom right) couldn’t wait to get their buses back out on the roads to transport our students to and from school.

• John P. Thomas Elementary School Assistant Principal Dr. Monica Adams and Principal Selina Latimore (top right) showed their “superpowers” as they welcomed students back to school.

• Gadsden Elementary School rolled out the blue carpet for students (bottom left) and gave them a VIP welcome back to school on August 15.

• Richland One students in grades 3-12, including these fourth-graders at Logan Elementary School, (top left) are excited to receive laptop computers as part of the district’s Digital Learning Environment (DLE) initiative.

• Hand Middle School dance students (middle right) proudly displayed their goals for the 2016-2017 school year.

Honors and awards just keep rolling in for Richland One teacher Jennifer Wise. In April, she was named South Carolina’s 2016-2017 Teacher of the Year. Last week, President Barack Obama announced her as one of 213 recipients nationwide of the prestigious Presiden-tial Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

The award is the highest recognition that a kindergarten through 12th grade mathematics or science teacher may receive. The winners are selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, math-ematicians and educators following an initial selection process at the state level. Honorees receive a certificate signed by the President of the United States, a trip to Washington, D.C. and a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation. Wise and the other winners will receive their awards at a ceremony in Washing-ton, D.C. on September 8.

“The recipients of this award are integral to ensuring our students are equipped with critical thinking and problem-solv-ing skills that are vital to our nation’s success,” President Obama said. “As the United States continues to lead the way in the innovation that is shaping our future, these excellent teachers are pre-paring students from all corners of the country with the science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills that help keep us on the cutting-edge.”

While she fulfills her responsibilities as South Carolina’s Teacher of the Year, Wise is on a one-year sabbatical from her teaching duties at Hand Middle School.

This Week is a weekly employee newsletter published by the Rich-land One Office of Communications. News items and photographs

for This Week should be emailed to thisweek@richlandone.org.

The deadline to submit items for the following week’s edition is by 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

For more information, call the Communications Office at 231-7504.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

2016-2017 Staff D irec tor y The 2016-2017 Staff Directory is available for online or-ders through the Print Shop’s Digital Storefront. The Staff Directory is listed under Featured Products. If you have questions or need additional information about the Staff Directory, contact Gwen Etheredge in the Office of Com-munications at 231-7504 or gwendolyn.haynes-eth@rich-landone.org.

August 31-September 2Blackboard website training for technology coaches and school website administrators, Olympia lab E-09 – Contact Karen York or Mitch Wyatt in the Office of Communications at 231-7504 for more information.

September 2High-school football games: Eau Claire vs. Edisto at Edisto; Columbia vs. C.A. Johnson at Bolden Stadium; W.J. Keenan vs. Chester at Chester; Dreher vs. Gray Collegiate at Memorial Stadium; and Lower Richland vs. Airport at Airport – all games kick off at 7:30 p.m.

September 5Labor Day holiday; all schools and offices closed

September 6Regular schedules resume

one vision one mission one common purpose

Coach Micah Kurtz of A.C. Flora High School was recognized at the August 23 Board of School Commission-ers meeting for be-ing named the 2016 National High School Strength and Condi-tioning Coach of the Year. Kurtz was hon-ored in July by the National Strength and Conditioning Association during its an-nual convention in New Orleans. Shown at the board meeting are (from left) Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon, Flora Athletics Director Ed Moore, Coach Kurtz and Commissioner Aaron Bishop.

News & Notes

In July, Inger Ferguson was named Educator of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Resource Officers. Ferguson, who is now the princi-pal at Southeast Middle School, formerly served as principal at Pine Grove Elementary School. She was nominated for the award by Deputy Sherrick Hill, school resource officer at Pine Grove, in recognition of her outstanding support of the SRO Program.

Dr. Timothy Black-well, assistant princi-pal at Hyatt Park El-ementary School, and Dr. Monica Adams, assistant principal at John P. Thomas Ele-mentary School, ana-lyzed and reviewed their school data to organize a collabora-tive math institute this summer that provided strategies and skills for higher-or-der thinking, problem solving and questioning during the instructional process. The math institute was held at John P. Thomas during the week of June 13-16, with teachers from several Richland One schools participating. Present-er Christine King provided teachers with classroom learn-ing experiences by having students participate during the math institute. At the conclusion of the institute, with King’s assistance, teachers organized a Math Fair with the summer school students on site. The teachers facilitated the games as a means of having a deeper understanding of how to implement various stations in the classrooms.

Hyatt Park Elementary School was visited by represen-tatives from the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce and Aflac (above) who dropped off school supplies for students. Principal Dell Brabham and her stu-dents and staff at Hyatt Park are appreciative of the sup-port from the community.

Webber Elementary School teachers Kathleen Slice and Whit-ley Felder attended the 2016 Roper Science P.L.U.S. Institute at Roper Mountain Science Center in Greenville this sum-mer. Participants received new, hands-on science activi-ties to use in the classroom, along with science materials and supplies to duplicate lessons learned at the Institute.