Washington-Wilkes Middle School teacher Michelle Smith (center) was selected as the 2009 Wilkes County Teacher of the Year in ceremonies Monday night, joined by (at left) Superintendent Joyce Williams, W-WPS Teacher of the Year Kimberly White, (Smith,) W-WCHS Teacher of the Year Amy Harkins, and W-WES Teacher of the Year Mary Elizabeth Burdette. Families and friends joined the Teachers of the Year for a reception at the high school media center. Middle school teacher Michelle Smith was named Wilkes County Teacher of the Year at a reception just prior to Monday night's Board of Education meeting.

Smith, the Washington-Wilkes Middle School Teacher of the Year, was honored along with Kim White, Teacher of the Year for the W-W Primary School, Mary Elizabeth Burdette, Teacher of the Year for the elementary school, and Amy Harkins, W-WCHS Teacher of the Year.

Teachers of the Year are nominated by their peers, School Superintendent Joyce Williams said, and the final selections are interviewed by a team of educators from outside the county. Each school winner receives an engraved plaque and a cash award. As system-wide winner, Michelle Smith was awarded an additional cash award and will be honored on the state level at a banquet in Atlanta in May. She will now represent Wilkes County in the state Teacher of the Year 2009 competition.

The regular November meeting of the Board of Education opened with a presentation from Lisa Isham on the Reading First program. Now in its fourth year, she said, Reading First gives students 120 minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction each day built on a good foundation of phonics. One hour is dedicated to grade-level reading instruction, and one hour is devoted to needs-based instruction.

The program uses frequent testing to measure results, and the testing yields data that drives instruction, she said. "We've really been able to defineour differentiated instruction to fine-tune it for each student's needs. We're really excited about what we're learning about teaching reading and being able to help every student."

In the Superintendent's Report, Joyce Williams recognized the graduates of the latest GLISSI school improvement course: Nikki Bailey, Belle Guin, Monica Gunter, Monica Hardy, Angela McGill, Florence Sandifer, Michelle Smith, and Mark Ward.

In her construction report, Williams said that the new school complex was taking shape. "With these walls going up, you can really see where the buildings are going to be."

She said that she and Transportation Director James Callaway were still very concerned with the DOT recommendation for a flashing yellow light at the new school rather than a stop light. They were meeting with Southern A&E to look at rearranging traffic patterns inside the school property, and were still working with the Georgia State Patrol and city and county authorities to document the traffic needs.

A problem with the size of the Health Occupations classroom is requiring a redesign of two rooms, she said, and if a change order is required, it will come before the board.

W-WCHS Principal Steve Echols requested that the board consider a proposal that would bring Driver's Ed to Wilkes County. A new Georgia law requires 16-year-olds to take the course before getting their license, and local teens have to drive to Athens or Augusta for the course. A company has approached Echols, he said, proposing to teach Driver's Ed at the high school.

Board Chairman Ricky Callaway said he was in favor of the idea, but that they would have to work out issues of liability and waivers with the company offering the service. Williams said that she would look into the liability issues and report back.