Parent Teacher Magazine | Page 5

Auerbach Named Regional POY Bethel SRO Named DARE Officer of the Year Congratulations to CCS Principal of the Year Adam Auerbach, who has been selected as a Regional Principal of the Year (POY). Auerbach will now compete with seven other regional POYs in the annual program sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and Wells Fargo. CCS Superintendent Barry Shepherd and Chief Human Resources Officer Glenda Jones announced Auerbach’s selection on Jan. 27th during the district’s monthly principals’ meeting. Auerbach’s students and staff at Wolf Meadow Elementary School were ‘Skyped in’ to the meeting so that the school could share in the announcement. This is the third time in four years that a CCS Principal of the Year has been selected as a regional POY winner. Hilda Batts, 2012 CCS Principal of the Year and principal of A.T. Allen Elementary School, and Lynn Rhymer, 2013 CCS Principal of the Year and former principal of Central Cabarrus High School, were named regional winners. The Regional Wells Fargo Principals of the Year receive a cash award for his/her school and a cash award for personal use. The 2015 Wells Fargo Principal of the Year will receive $3,000 for his or her school and $3,000 for his or her personal use. The state-level winner will be announced in the spring. Congratulations to Cabarrus County Deputy and School Resource Officer Keith Drake for Bethel Elementary School. Officer Drake has been named the Ralph Robinson N.C. DARE Officer of the Year. He was presented with the award in January at the annual N.C. DARE Officers Association Conference in Atlantic Beach, N.C. Officer Drake was nominated for the because of his strong commitment to the DARE program. Last year, Cabarrus County Schools received a grant for elementary school resource officers (SRO), and as a part of that grant, the Sherriff’s Department placed eight new SROs in our schools – those eight officers required DARE officer training. The Sheriff’s office is committed to the DARE program and requires our elementary officers to teach the DARE curriculum to their 5th grade classes. NC DARE has lost funding from several areas, including federal and state funding, and other private funding they have always relied on. The lack of funding created a problem with getting our new officers training and certification for the DARE program. Officer Drake stepped up and created three fundraisers locally to help fill the funding gap. He realized with our eight new officers we would consume a large portion of the certification training in the state, so he wanted to help the association with funding. He hosted a DARE to Fish Bass Fishing Tournament, a DARE Carnival and a DARE Golf Tournament, all of which raised thousands of dollars for the N.C. DARE Association. CCHS Teacher Named Masonry Expert Congratulations to Central Cabarrus High School Masonry Teacher Todd Hartsell on his selection and appointment of Masonry Expert for the United States WorldSkills Team by the National SkillsUSA Headquarters in Leesburg, Virginia. As Masonry Expert, he will train SkillsUSA Masonry Representative for the 2015 WorldSkills Competition, which will be held August 11 – 16 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The WorldSkills Competition occurs every two years and is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in the world that truly reflects the global industry. The competitors are all under 23 years of age, representing the best of their peers and are selected from skills competitions in WorldSkills member countries and regions. They demonstrate technical abilities both individually and collectively to execute specific tasks for which they study and/or perform in their workplace. Each participating country sends one qualifying representative/contestant to compete in their area of expertise. The competing country, selects an advisor for each contestant, known as the trade specific expert. The expert’s responsibility is to prepare and train the contestant for the week long competition held in th