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6A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, October 20,2021
Board of Education honors teachers of the year
Photo courtesy of Dawson County School System
On Oct. 12, the Dawson County Board of Education recognized the teachers
who have been named as the teacher of the year for each school in the dis
trict.
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
At the Oct. 12 meeting
of the Dawson County
Board of Education,
board members and
school administrators
honored the 2021-22
teachers of the year from
each school.
Each teacher was invit
ed to come forward,
along with an administra
tor from the school they
represented who
explained to the board
why the teacher was cho
sen and what makes them
amazing at their jobs.
Blacks Mill
Elementary School:
Stephanie Danuser
BMES Principal Cindy
Kinney introduced
Danuser as Blacks Mill’s
teacher of the year, say
ing that her heart for her
students and her school
makes her an asset to the
team at Blacks Mill.
Kinney said Danuser
has been in education for
18 years, 12 of which
have been in Dawson
County. In addition to
teaching, she is a member
of the school’s PBIS and
leadership teams, leads
the student council and
serves as a mentor teach
er to new staff members.
“Her selection as teach
er of the year at Blacks
Mill is a true reflection of
her commitment to the
teaching profession, to
her boys and girls whose
lives she touches daily,
and to our school,”
Kinney said. “She is con
sidered a vital part of our
school and a respected
member of our faculty
and staff.”
Kinney said she spoke
with several of Danuser’s
coworkers at Blacks Mill,
who described her as
hardworking, creative,
caring, a team player,
always willing to help,
giving and engaging.
Kinney, whose own
daughter is in Danuser’s
class, said that Danuser
goes above and beyond
her duties as a teacher to
engage her students and
to show them how much
she cares about them.
“Mrs. Danuser engages
her students on a daily
basis, she builds relation
ships with them through
out the day, and also by
attending their extra-cur
ricular activities after
school,” Kinney said.
“Anything that they’re
involved in she wants to
know about and be a part
of.”
According to Kinney,
Danuser’s love for her
students and for her
school is evident every
day through her interac
tions with the students,
parents and staff.
“Mrs. Danuser possess
es the integrity, dedica
tion and leadership skills
that’s vital for today’s
teachers,” Kinney said.
“She has a servant’s
heart, and that’s evident
when you see her each
and every day and what
she does.”
Kinney said she and the
rest of the administration
and staff at Blacks Mill
are incredibly grateful to
have Danuser as part of
their team.
“We all benefit from
having her at Blacks
Mill,” Kinney said. “As
you can tell, we’re
blessed at Blacks Mill to
have her a part of her
Blacks Mill family.”
Kilough Elementary
School: Amy
Tankersley
KES Assistant Principal
Kim Bennett spoke about
Tankersley to the board,
explaining that she was
chosen as Kilough’s
teacher of the year
because of her drive to
make learning fun and
give all she can to her stu
dents.
According to Bennett,
Tankersley is a graduate
of Dawson County High
School and has been
teaching in the county
since 2013. She began
teaching grades six
through eight at
Riverview Middle
School, and she is now in
her sixth year at Kilough
where she has taught
every subject in third
through fifth grades.
Bennett said, in talking
to Tankersley’s col
leagues, she was
described positively over
and over again.
“Her colleagues say
that she is always patient,
always flexible, always
kind and is always mak
ing learning fun,” Bennett
said. “Another one says
that she always gives her
students a hug on the way
out, and she’s willing to
take on extra responsibili
ties to help other teach
ers.”
Tankersley also serves
on the PTO at Kilough
and is a mom and a foster
mom, and according to
Bennett everything that
Tankersley does she does
with a smile on her face.
“She’s the kind of
teacher that all the stu
dents want to have as
their teacher and they all
wanna be in her class
room because she just
makes learning fun,”
Bennett said. “Amy is an
integral part of Kilough
Elementary and it’s an
honor to have her with
us.”
Riverview
Elementary School:
Carson Johnson
RvES Principal Adam
Maroney introduced
Johnson, who has been
selected as both the
teacher of the year for
Riverview and the teacher
of the year for the entire
district, saying that she is
passionate about her job
and about being as help
ful as she can to her stu
dents and her fellow staff.
Maroney said, in addi
tion to teaching Special
Education classes,
Johnson serves as a for
mal mentor to a first-year
teacher and a supervising
teacher to a North
Georgia intern. He added
that she also often infor
mally mentors many
teachers in the building
about reading instruction.
“She has a passion for
teaching and learning,
particularly in the area of
literacy, and she is a phe
nomenal teacher of read
ing and writing,”
Maroney said. “Truth be
told, some of my best
professional development
has grown out of the
many conversations that
Mrs. Johnson and I had
about teaching reading
and writing.”
Maroney said Johnson
is the kind of teacher that
administrators like him
self love to watch do their
job because she does it so
well.
“Mrs. Johnson is the
type of teacher that when
you’re having a bad day
and you just want to go
watch some fantastic
teaching as a source of
renewal, she’s the class
room that you go to see,”
Maroney said.
According to Maroney,
Johnson’s colleagues
described her as someone
who has an impact on not
just her students, but her
peers as well.
“When asked, her peers
described her as a rock-
star, patient and commit
ted to her job and stu
dents, passionate about
the needs of others, one
who truly cares, amazing
in all aspects, a heart of
gold for students, staff
and teachers, an advocate
for all of our students,”
Maroney said, “and I
couldn’t have said it bet
ter myself.”
Maroney said Johnson
deserves the honor of
being not only
Riverview’s teacher of the
year, but the district
teacher of the year too,
because of the impact she
makes every day.
“When I think of the
characteristics of a quali
ty teacher of the year, I
look to the impact that a
teacher has not only on
her students but on his or
her colleagues in the pro
fession as a whole,”
Maroney said. “She has a
wealth of knowledge and
tools, not only to help our
struggling learners but the
teachers throughout our
building; she makes an
impact on us all.”
Robinson
Elementary School:
Meghan Cantrell
RES Assistant Principal
Linda Bearden talked
about Cantrell to the
board, saying that she is
an amazing teacher
because of her enthusi
asm and her positive atti
tude.
Bearden said Cantrell
has been teaching for six
years, three of which
have been in Dawson
County. She taught two
years of kindergarten at
Robinson and now teach
es fourth grade, in addi
tion to serving on the
leadership team and lead
ing the staff events team.
“She’s an integral
member of our team at
Robinson,” Bearden said.
“She is just constantly
thinking of others and
how she can make others
smile.”
According to Bearden,
Cantrell shows up to
work every day with a
smile on her face, and her
excitement is infectious
to staff and students alike.
“She’s one of the hap
piest people you will ever
meet in your entire life;
she just exudes excite
ment and I’ve never seen
her when she wasn’t smil
ing,” Bearden said. “If
you had the opportunity
to be a fly on the wall in
her classroom, you’d
quickly recognize that her
kids love her.”
Bearden said Cantrell is
always finding creative
ways to make learning
fun for her kids and to
form relationships with
them.
“There’s never a time
that I see her that she’s
not right with the kids,
doing something to help
them,” Bearden said. “It’s
just very encouraging to
me to see the way that
she builds those relation
ships with her kids.”
In addition to putting
her students first, Bearden
said Cantrell also priori
tizes her coworkers’
needs and strives to bring
joy to those she works
with through small acts of
kindness like leaving pos
itive notes in the staff
bathrooms or handing out
treats to the other staff
members during her
break time.
“She brings so much
joy to our students and
our staff, she’s so deserv
ing of this honor and I
could not be more hon
ored myself to stand here
with her and to work
alongside her every day,”
Bearden said.
Dawson County
Middle School:
Karen Westbrook
DCMS Principal Kim
White spoke about
Westbrook during the
meeting, saying that she
deserves the honor of
being the middle school’s
teacher of the year
because of how much she
does for the school and
how hard she works to
meet the needs of both the
students and teachers.
White said Westbrook
was raised in Dawson
County and raised her
children in the county too.
While Westbrook always
wanted to be an educator,
she put her dreams on
hold to raise her family.
Now, she’s been working
in the school system for
11 years, first as a para
pro, then in the Special
Education department and
she now serves as the
media specialist for the
middle school.
According to White,
Westbrook is the media
specialist in name but
really does much more
than that each day.
"She troubleshoots
iPads on a daily basis, she
troubleshoots every bit of
technology,” White said.
“Karen is our media spe
cialist but so much more
— when things go down
and people don’t know
what to do Karen is the
person you call.”
White said she spoke to
several of Westbrook’s
coworkers, and that they
described her as a leader, a
friend, positive, welcom
ing, patient, kind, good,
loving, genuine, joyful,
graceful, caring and com
passionate.
“I couldn’t have said it
better than that,” White
added. “I’m blessed to
work beside her, I’m
blessed that not only is
she my colleague but she’s
my friend, and I would
like to say that she’s raised
an assistant principal. We
know that she has done
her work, and we are
blessed that she gets to
continue to do it with us
on a daily basis.”
Dawson County
Junior High School:
Erin Wade
DCJHS Principal Brody
Hughes introduced Wade
as the teacher of the year
for the junior high school,
saying that she is an asset
to the school.
According to Hughes,
Wade has been in educa
tion for 15 years, five of
which have been in
Dawson County. She cur
rently serves at the junior
high school as the Special
Education lead chair.
Hughes said he spoke to
several of Wade’s col
leagues about her and that
they described her as help
ful, knowledgeable, hard
working, passionate, calm,
patient, compassionate,
supportive, understanding
and a role model. He said
that personally, he knows
that Wade is a teacher he
can always depend on.
“Erin is one of my right
hand people, she takes
care of not only our spe
cial education population
but also all of the students
that she comes in contact
with in our classes,”
Hughes said. “She does a
fantastic job; I can always
go to Erin and ask her the
pulse of the school.”
Hughes said Wade
deserves the honor of
being her school’s teacher
of the year, and that he
and the rest of the junior
high school administration
are proud to have her as a
part of their school.
“She’s that kind of lead
er in our building that
other coworkers come to
her and ask for advice, so
she is a big big part of
Dawson County Junior
High and we are so proud
to have her,” Hughes said.
Dawson County
High School: Derek
Waters
DCHS Assistant
Principal Charles Beusse
talked about Waters to the
board, telling them he is
an exemplary teacher
because of his work ethic
and heart for his students.
Beusse said this is
Waters’ tenth year in edu
cation, all of which has
been in Dawson County.
Waters is himself a gradu
ate of DCHS, and he cur
rently serves as the high
school’s Special
Education lead teacher.
‘I can tell you that
working with high school
kids can be a challenge
sometimes, and Derek has
the ability to take those
kids, sometimes that often
struggle, build relation
ships with them, and get
them where they need to
be,” Beusse said. “We are
so fortunate to have Derek
as a part of our team; he is
one of those people that I
can go to for anything and
anytime that I ask Derek
to help with something he
is always right there and
his work ethic speaks to
that as well.”
According to Beusse,
Waters is an asset to the
high school and has left
his mark on many of the
students he has taught.
“There have been a lot
of students that have come
through Dawson County
High School that have
been successful as a direct
result of the work that
Derek has done, and I
think that’s just a testa
ment to not only the type
of teacher that Derek is,
but also the type of person
that Derek is,” Beusse
said. “We’re fortunate to
have him not just at the
high school but in Dawson
County and for all that he
does for our students.”
Beusse said teachers
like Waters are what really
makes the Dawson
County school district as
amazing as it is.
“Derek is one of those
people that his heart is
really there for the kids,
and when you see a teacher
like that who puts so much
into it, loves kids so much,
that wants them to be suc
cessful, that’s when you’re
gonna be successful as a
school and as a school dis
trict,” Beusse said. “He’s
soft spoken but he leads by
example, and our school is
a much much better place
because of Derek.”
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a no kill shelter
706-265-9160
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706-265-8381