Homewood school board honors 6 teachers for national certification

The Homewood Board of Education on Tuesday night celebrated six additional teachers achieving certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

The teachers are:

• Mallory Creel, a fifth grade teacher at Edgewood Elementary
• Kelley Winslett, a special education teacher at Shades Cahaba Elementary
• Austin Bonds, a seventh grade social studies teacher at  Homewood Middle School
• Shelby DiLorenzo, an eighth grade science teacher at Homewood Middle School
• Susan Edwards, an eighth grade science teacher at Homewood Middle School
• Robert McNelly, a science teacher at Homewood High School

Homewood City Schools Director of Instruction Cristy York awarded certificates to each of the teachers in attendance (DiLorenzo and McNelly could not attend), congratulating them on their achievements. 

“It is my honor and privilege to recognize our new national board certified teachers tonight,” York said. “National board certification is one of the best professional development opportunities for teachers, but it is an extremely rigorous process that requires a significant investment of teachers' time, energy and effort. We are so impressed and grateful that these teachers were not only up to the challenge, but successfully achieved national board certification this year.”

Homewood schools Superintendent Justin Hefner noted that Homewood currently has 53 teachers who have received the national certification and 26 more “in the queue.” Homewood is one of only four school districts in Alabama to receive national recognition for its percentage of teachers who hold national board certification, Hefner said. 

He added that efforts of the Homewood Board of Education and the Homewood City Schools Foundation, including funding the cost of certification for the teachers and providing five national board mentors throughout the district, have assisted Homewood in achieving that high percentage.

“We're just really proud of the success of the NBCT program here in our system, and we're excited about its future,” Hefner said

The school board on Tuesday night also recognized the Support Staff Of The Year and Teachers Of The Year from each school:

Support Staff Of The Year:

• Edgewood Elementary School — April Harrell, secretary
• Hall Kent Elementary School — Leigha McLendon, instructional assistant
• Shades Cahaba Elementary School — Andrew Studdard, instructional assistant
• Homewood Middle School — Jennifer Henderson, instructional assistant
• Homewood High School — Brad Keim, instructional assistant
• Central Office — Danny Hubbard, maintenance

Teachers Of The Year:

• Edgewood Elementary — Susan Hanson, science, technology, engineering and math
• Hall-Kent Elementary — Katie Hunter, second grade
• Shades Cahaba Elementary — Lindsey Mahaffey, kindergarten
• Homewood Middle — Jayde Harville, sixth grade math and science
• Homewood High — Katie Smith, English teacher, instructional coach

"Congratulations to our teachers of the year, support staff of the year and national board-certified teachers," board member David Thompson said. "It's a lot of hard work, and we really appreciate your dedication to our community."

Board member Sheetal Courdry said these teachers and support staff do a lot of work behind the scenes to give Homewood students hope and a future. “I'm just very thankful for this district, Homewood City Schools, and the special place that it is,” she said.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, two parents voiced concerns regarding the school system’s decision to end its on-site Extended Day Programs and to outsource after-school and summer programs to the Shades Valley YMCA. The Homewood Star will have more on this story at a later time. 

In other news, the school board: 

• Approved a resolution allowing McRel International and Bryan Goodwin to lead a full day of professional learning on July 10 for $10,500, to be paid with Title 2 federal funding.
• Approved a $56-per-month increase in out-of-district tuition to $731 per month.
• Introduced possible changes to a policy regarding full-time salaried employees requesting admission of their out-of-district children to Homewood City Schools. The school board plans to vote on the measure at a future meeting.

The next Homewood Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 19, at 5:30 p.m.