Bojangles donates books to honor Upstate teachers

First, congratulations to those teachers who have been selected as Teachers of the Year by their peers in those schools where that is the process.

Second, congratulations to Bojangles for recognizing the value of great teaching and for its donation of books to the honored teachers.

This note in today's Spartanburg Herald-Journal identifies that county's teachers of the year and gives credit to Bojangles for its participation:

Recently Bojangles' presented hundreds of books to local District Teachers of the Year. This donation event was one of 16 planned for this year, and is part of Bojangles' ongoing partnership with South Carolina Future Minds, which is designed to support teachers across the state who make a positive impact on their students and the future of South Carolina through their commitment to education.

Teachers honored at the event included: South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind (SCSDB) Teacher of the Year Carrie Ramella works with ninth through 12th graders in the deaf high school on speechlanguage therapy. She has an undergraduate degree from Columbia College and earned her Masters of Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of South Carolina.

Spartanburg School District One Teacher of the Year Laura Dickson teaches physical education at O.P. Earle Elementary School in Landrum and says that the rising epidemic of obesity in our children motivated her to become a P.E. teacher. It is Dickson's hope that their experience in elementary P.E. will lead to a lifetime of health and wellness.

Spartanburg School District Two Teacher of the Year Patricia Hardee is employed at Boiling Springs Elementary School, where she teaches third grade. Hardee believes that, as a teacher, she has the power to transform lives, encourage, teach and love children for the majority of their day. She finds this to be an awesome responsibility and one that she takes great pride in.

Spartanburg School District Three Teacher of the Year Veronica Carroll tries to inspire her fifth grade math students at Cowpens Elementary School by creating an exciting classroom. She works to create a love of math for her students through the use of music, rap and hands-on activities. Carroll loves when she is able to teach a student something they thought they could not do or that was confusing to them at first.

Spartanburg School District Four Teacher of the Year Tina Harrell is the library media specialist at Woodruff Middle School where she believes the best part of her job is learning alongside her students.

Spartanburg School District Five Teacher of the Year Christy Emerson believes that building a strong literary foundation for her first grade students at River Ridge Elementary School will help them succeed in other areas of academic instruction. She considers her ability to create an environment where children love learning as one of her greatest accomplishments. Emerson refers to her first grade students as “Super Kids” and strives to help them become the best they can be.

Spartanburg School District Seven Teacher of the Year Nancy Crowe teaches adapted physical education at McCarthy Teszler School in Spartanburg and enjoys inspiring her awesome and unique students to turn their disabilities into abilities.

“Bojangles' is proud to continue its support of education in the Palmetto State,” said Bojangles' President and CEO Randy Kibler. “Partnering with South Carolina Future Minds and the Teacher of the Year program for the third consecutive year gives us the opportunity to thank South Carolina's outstanding teachers for their dedication to the nearly 700,000 students currently enrolled in the public education system.” This year Bojangles' will be donating nearly 3,000 books in honor of District Teachers of the Year.

Editors praise literacy gains by Charleston's educators

On the upside, in a note published in yesterday's Post and Courier of Charleston, editors praised the work being done by Charleston's classroom educators to improve literacy in the area. On the downside, the editors didn't actually bring themselves to mention that Charleston's classroom educators were doing the work. An otherwise terrific editorial rings tinny for that deficiency.

The editors begin with a little context; it seems no balm can be appreciated without first administering the sting.

For years, area employers have lamented the sorry reading and writing skills that all too many job candidates have exhibited. Things appear to be looking up.

A better introduction might have read, "The nation's earliest advocates of an informed citizenry and voting electorate recommended a system of free public schools to promote universal education. Despite bumps in Charleston's record of promoting literacy among its youth, we now appear to moving toward the enlightenment that early American heroes suggested." After all, an overweening reliance on the sensitivities of corporate interests has yielded the culture we have; it is the status quo against which many educators struggle.

Nonetheless, the editors see progress, and progress is always good.

They celebrate:

A new report shows that Charleston County public school students who have received special reading instruction have made significant improvements in literacy.

Yet the praise is faint and streaked with self-congratulation.

It also suggests that the problem isn't just students who have difficulty learning, but that for years the schools have been approaching the problem in the wrong way. It was after The Post and Courier in 2009 reported on devastating literacy problems in local schools that the Charleston County School Board wisely made it the district's number one priority to address literacy.

Ultimately, Superintendent Nancy McGinley is the subject of the editors' appreciation. Again, it might have made a more graceful editorial, had the editors highlighted the education professionals who work with children daily to overcome the stresses and impediments that life in Charleston provides to children needing the additional aid, but those rank-and-file educators in South Carolina have long been used to toiling without recognition.

A healthy local and state economy demands an educated workforce. And it is encouraging that the district is searching for, and finding, ways to fill that need and to give students tools to make their lives more meaningful.

Dr. McGinley's literacy program is working because it is mandatory and has consequences for those enrolled. Students reading below grade level must participate or they will not be allowed to go to the next grade.

It isn't punishment. It's the opposite. Punishment is what the district had been doing: allowing students who couldn't read on a first grade level, to pass to the second grade where they were even more at sea.

The bump in literacy shows what a coordinated effort involving teachers, parents, school administrators and board members can produce. The district's literacy policy tells students that they can, and must, learn to read.

No exceptions.

Well-put by editors in America's first, and most consistent, city of exception.