Parent Teacher Magazine Rowan-Salisbury Schools March/April 2019 | Page 6

SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS - INSPIRATION AWARDS The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education honored China Grove Middle School students, staff, emergency officials, and citizens for going Above and Beyond in demonstrating and inspiring the extraordinary during a tragic situation that occurred in December. CGMS students were called into action and performed in an amazing and heroic manner when a China Grove Middle school bus was involved in an unusual accident. The students responded quickly and safely – just as they had learned through practice drills at their school. Throughout the school year, RSS safety staff work with emergency officials and spend time in our schools practicing drills and lockdowns in order to prepare students and staff in the event emergency situations may occur. This incident that occurred on a cool December morning confirmed that these safety practices work. The recognitions were presented with the assistance of RSS Safety Officer Sharon Gardner, RSS Transportation Director Tim Beck, China Grove Middle School Principal Ben Crawford, and Rowan County Chief Fire Marshal Debra Horn to come forward. Students honored were as follows: Yadhira Gutierrez Camilla Rivera Maria Mejia Elijah Rawls D’Arrion Cuthbertson Ronnie Vargas Deacon Brock Brian Diaz Johnathan Trejo Zachary Burton Christian Martinez New Chief Technology Officer Rowan-Salisbury welcomes Dr. David Blattner the district’s new Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Blattner started his career as a high school English teacher. He then became an assistant principal serving at three different schools before becoming principal. He was principal of Lake Norman High School and the Collaborative College for Technology and Leadership Early College (CCTL). At that assignment, he implemented his school system’s first one to one implementation providing a digital device for each student. CCTL had the highest performance ratings with 100% of students making proficiency on all state exams and was named an Apple Distinguished school. Dr. Blattner then became the Chief Technology Officer for Iredell-Statesville Schools where he was able to implement a one to one computer initiative in grades 6-12. Dr. Blattner has a Bachelors from San Diego State University, Masters from Gardner Web University and his Doctorate from Wingate University. His dissertation focused on successful elements of design planning and implementation of digital transformation of school systems. We are excited to have Dr. Blattner's leadership at Rowan-Salisbury Schools and look forward to all that he will bring to enriching the education for our children. 4 • March/April 2019• Parent Teacher Magazine  Roberto Medina Aiden Valles Mia Parks Evelin Hernandez Michael Gay Tanner Gulledge Osvaldo Garduno Cristal Garduno Karen Suarez-Bello Vanessa Martinez-Smith Jacqueline Montelongo Alyssa Maggard Aryann Facemyer Brynna Facemyer Joselin Pichardo Drake Furr Aubreigh Woolf Erin Baxter – Knox Center for Accelerated Studies Also honored were the following: Officer Michael Vickers: China Grove Middle SRO Tyler Tarnes & Wanda Parris: Community Citizens Melinda Dabbs: Secretary at Corriher-Lipe Middle Ellen Howard: Guidance Counselor at China Grove Middle Adam DeLand: Assistant Principal at China Grove Middle Isenberg Elementary - Dual-Language Immersion Academy Rowan County's First DLI Academy Imagine your child learning literacy and content in two languages! Well, it's happening at Isenberg Elementary beginning with the 2019-2020 school year. Parent informational nights are being held at Isenberg to learn, listen and ask questions about the DLI Academy. The Academy will begin with enrolling children who will be entering Kindergarten next school year with an additional class added each year. Stop by and check us out! Enroll your child to be part of Rowan County's first DLI Academy. Informational Night: March 28, 2019 @ 6:00 p.m. Kindergarten Registration: April 17, 2019 @ 6:00 p.m. 2800 Jake Alexander Blvd. Salisbury, NC 28147 www.rssed.org/ies 704-639-3009