TIFTON — Ten teachers representing eight Tift County public schools were surprised Monday when they were “tapped” as winners of the 19th annual “Excellence in Teaching” awards. Monday’s tapping coincides with this week being American Education Week.
Members of the Tift County Foundation for Educational Excellence, the organization that sponsors the awards, and the Tift County Board of Education and staff surprised the teachers at their respective schools Monday and presented them with framed certificates for their achievements.
Sheri Grabowski, who teaches fourth and fifth-grade general music and sixth-grade band and chorus classes at J.T. Reddick Elementary School. Grabowski started her teaching career in Worth County in 1986 and has been teaching in the Tift County school system since 1992. She is a second-time winner, having won an “Excellence in Teaching” award in 1996.
Patrick Atwater, the school system’s superintendent, presented Grabowski the award. He said that he and Grabowski started their careers in education at J.T. Reddick.
“She does a great job and she’s very deserving,” said Mickey Weldon, J.T. Reddick’s principal.
Grabowski is not the only one in her family who has made a career in public schools. Her mother, Gail Wyles, served as registrar for Worth County High School until her retirement and now works as a paraprofessional at the school and her late father, Gene Wiles, was the band director for 35 years at Worth County High School and ABAC’s band director for 16 years. Her sister, Julie Gunn, is also a teacher at J.T. Reddick and is a past recipient of the “Excellence in Teaching” award.
Other teachers who received the award include: Angie Crumley of G.O. Bailey Primary; Gina Lawhon of Len Lastinger; Wendy Sparks of Len Lastinger; Frances Atwater of Northside Primary; Tammy Hornbuckle of Omega School; Cele Bullard of Charles Spencer Elementary; Terri Nalls of Charles Spencer Elementary; Susan Tucker of Eighth Street Middle School; and Paul Horst of Tift County High School.
The teachers each receive a $250 cash award and are honored with a banquet in February.
Directors serve on the Excellence in Teaching Committee and those members change annually. Letters nominating public school teachers for the award are submitted from spring through June 15. Forms may be picked up at any of the schools’ offices or obtained from the Tift County Schools’ Web site at www.tiftschools.com, or anyone can write their own letter and mail it to Tift County Foundation, P.O. Box 714, Tifton GA 31793 or call 382-4328 for more information.
To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.
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