By Haley Mitchell Godwin

The Crenshaw County Schools recognized student achievements at its regular board meeting on April 17 at 5:30 p.m.

Dodd Hawthorne, superintendent of Crenshaw County Schools, recognized the county spelling bee winners and the Valedictorians and Salutatorians from all three county schools during the board meeting.

“We have an excellent opportunity to recognize some special students tonight with the county spelling bee winners and our valedictorians and salutatorians that have worked so hard since ninth grade,” Hawthorne said. “If you have ever been to a county spelling bee and have seen the 12 students onstage vying for the county spelling bee winner, you know they do an excellent job and I congratulate these students. Although they did receive a certificate after the spelling bee, we want to call them up one by one and recognize them again tonight.”

After the spelling bee winners were honored, Hawthorne recognized the valedictorians and salutatorians from each school and asked each student to share their plans for after graduation.

Recognized first were the salutatorians.

McKenize Daniel from Luverne High School (LHS) plans to attend Troy University with a major in biomedical sciences and a minor in Spanish.

Highland Home School’s (HHS) salutatorian Raylee J. Lowe, who is currently a Lurleen B. Wallace (LBW) Ambassador, will attend LBW for two years after high school and then enroll at Troy where she will major in biomedical sciences and minor in Spanish.

Faith Crawley, salutatorian for Brantley High School (BHS), will go to the University of Alabama on a pre-law track, majoring in criminology and criminal justice, and minoring in business. The Crenshaw County Schools

Valedictorians were called up next.

Luverne High School’s Sophie Kelly plans to attend Troy University where she will major in nursing.
Meghan White, HHS valedictorian plans to attend Auburn University at Montgomery to obtain a degree in early childhood education.

BHS valedictorian, Anna Grace Hall, will attend Auburn University for occupational therapy and she plans to specialize in pediatrics.

Doug Bailey, director of operations for CCS, and Kevin Messick, technology coordinator for the schools delivered a technology demonstration highlighting the new two-way Promethean communication panels that will eventually be available in classrooms, replacing the current ViewSonic screens.

“It will do a lot of the things the current panels will do but also a lot more. For instance, let’s say you have a kid in the hospital,” Bailey said. “The student can open their Chromebook, put in a code from the teacher, and share their screen with the teacher and the rest of the class, and vice versa. That student would be able to see the teacher’s screen from a remote location in real-time, a feature that the ViewSonic boards do not have.”

Cody Carnley, Federal Programs and K-6 curriculum director, said that the new Promethean panels, although much more advanced than what is in place now, offer training and professional development in “at your own pace” format.

“These panels have a lot that the ViewSonics don’t offer,” Carnley said. “There is actually an online portal for teachers to go to that is completely free. They can see what other teachers are doing in other schools across the nation and how they’re utilizing this program to be interactive in their classroom. So again, you’re getting more resources in the hands of teachers so that they can strategically teach. It’s a great way to build a community and for our teachers to network with one another.”

All superintendent recommendations were passed including the approval of a bid from McCord Contract Floors Inc. for new flooring at HHS and approval of the out-of-state field trip for the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) members to attend the June 20-24 International leadership conference in Dallas, Texas.

Also approved was the purchase of new social studies textbooks, the recommendation for Justin Bragg to receive a supplement as the HHS JV Baseball coach, along with personnel recommendations that included one resignation, two retirements and one hire to be affective at the end of the school year.

All board members were present for the meeting. Kenneth Wesley, chief school finance officer, gave the financial report for February. Detailed financial reports are available at www.crenshaw-schools.org under finance.
The next regular board meeting will be held May 15 at 5:30 p.m.