Educators Chosen to Serve on CERRA’s Advisory Board

Teacher advocates guide organization’s recruitment, retention efforts

ROCK HILL, SC – May 7, 2012 – Accomplished educators from across thePalmetto State have been chosen to serve on the Center for EducatorRecruitment, Retention and Advancement’s (CERRA) Advisory Board. TheCERRA Advisory Board (CAB) advocates for the teaching profession,especially in the areas of educator recruitment, retention, andadvancement. The group also acts as an advisory body for the network ofeducators affiliated with CERRA. CAB serves as a positive voice foreducational reform, professional development for all teachers, and theimprovement of teacher quality in order to raise the level of studentachievement in South Carolina’s public schools.

Educators were elected from South Carolina’s five regions and represent diverse groups including: 

“The teacher leaders on CERRA’s Advisory Board represent the hope andpromise of the teaching profession in South Carolina,” said JasonFulmer, Program Director for Mentoring and Teacher Leadershipinitiatives.

Aspart of her one-year residency at CERRA, newly named 2013 SouthCarolina Teacher of the Year Amy McAllister Skinner, an English teacherat Johnsonville High School in Florence District Five, will lead thegroup of accomplished educators for the upcoming school year.

Dr.Penny Saurino, a college partner and Associate Professor of ElementaryEducation at Limestone College, has also been appointed to anInstitution of Higher Education seat on the Board representingpre-collegiate programs. Saurino has been partnering with local schoolsto promote CERRA’s recruitment efforts.

The following members will serve on the CERRA Advisory Board until June 2015:

Virginia Scates, Corinth Elementary School
Mrs. Scates is a 2001 National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) with 21years of experience in education. She renewed her National BoardCertification in 2011. She has taught grades K-6. Mrs. Scates is acertified mentor through CERRA, has served on district leadership teams,and was named Cherokee County’s 2011-2012 District Teacher of the Year.Mrs. Scates is involved in the following leadership opportunities:Center for Innovative Leadership Development Summer Conference, SIC,SAFE-T and Mentor Training, New Teacher Induction Class Presenter, andKnowledge Net Web site webmaster.

Robin Bracken, Calhoun Academy of the Arts
Mrs. Bracken is a NBCT with 7 years of experience in education, all withCalhoun Academy of the Arts in Anderson. She has taught second andfifth grade. In 2007, she received her Master of Education Degree inCurriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Integrated TeachingThrough the Arts. She was Calhoun’s Teacher of the Year in 2009-2010.She was a Teacher Cadet at Easley High School and then a Teaching Fellowat Anderson University. She teaches EDU 330: The Visual and PerformingArts for the Classroom teacher as an adjunct professor at AndersonUniversity. In 2011, she became a certified mentor and mentor trainerthrough CERRA. This is Bracken’s second term on the Board.

Cynthia Price, Edgewood Middle School
Mrs. Price is an English Language Arts teacher with 26 years ofexperience in education. She has taught elementary and middle school andhas served on district evaluation teams, vertical teams, and is activein her local teacher forum. She is a certified mentor. In 2007, she wasnamed Greenwood 52’s District Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Price is amember of SC International Reading Association and serves as herschool’s representative for the Piedmont Council. In 2011, she wasselected as Piedmont Council’s Secondary Distinguished Teacher ofReading. Mrs. Price is the English Language Arts Department Chair andthe Making Middle Grades Work Literacy Focus Team Leader, as well as amember of Edgewood Middle School’s Leadership Team. Price returns for asecond term on the Board.

Paige Rister, Little Mountain Elementary School
Mrs. Rister is a certified teacher with three years of experience ineducation. She has taught at both the elementary and middle schoollevels. She is currently teaching 4th grade at Little MountainElementary in Newberry County. Since 2008, she has served as aninterviewer for Teaching Fellow Regional Interviews. In 2009, she wasnominated and appointed to the CERRA Advisory Board as a former TeachingFellow at Newberry College. During her senior year at Newberry College,she was chosen as the South Carolina Association for Supervision andCurriculum Development (SC-ASCD) 2009 Outstanding Student Teacher of theYear. She also participated in the Teacher Cadet Program as a senior atMid-Carolina High School in 2005. Rister will be serving her secondterm on the Board.
 
Lori Cooper, Camden Middle School
Lori Cooper is certified in both elementary education and middle-levelscience. She received a bachelor’s degree from Coker College and aMaster of Education degree from Francis Marion University. She has 15years experience in education. In 2010, she was named Kershaw County’sDistrict Teacher of the Year. In 2011, she won the Bojangles’ SC TeacherAppreciation contest and was also honored by Education World online.She is a past winner of the SCMSA’s Middle School Magic award and is thechairman of Kershaw County Teacher Forum. She is a member of DeltaKappa Gamma, Upsilon Chapter, and SCIRA. She is a science coach,certified mentor, and SAFE-T evaluator. She also frequently hoststeaching interns, Teacher Cadets, and high school mentors in herclassroom.
 
Sallie Ortmann, Lexington High School
Miss Ortmann is a first year Biology I Honors teacher at Lexington HighSchool. Through her first year at Lexington, she has taken fulladvantage of the technology her school has provided. Miss Ortmann hascreated a paperless classroom and continues to enhance classroomlearning with the use of iPads. As an active member of Palmetto StateTeachers Association, she will be speaking at the annual conference inMarch. Miss Ortmann participated in the Pro-Team Program at Alice DriveMiddle School in 2000, the Teacher Cadet Program at Sumter High Schoolin 2005, and became a Teaching Fellow at the University of SouthCarolina in 2006.

Shanika Harrington-David, Wallace Elementary Middle School
Mrs. Shanika Harrington-David is a NBCT with 10 years of experience. Shehas taught 2nd-5th grades in Richland School District Two, 4th grade inCumberland County Schools North Carolina and 2nd grade in MarlboroCounty. In all three counties she has served on district leadership andcurriculum teams, most recently serving on the District’s Common CoreImplementation Team for K-8 Math, District’s Strategic Planning andAdvancED steering committees
. Mrs. Harrington-David has been an activemember of NEA, SCEA, RCEA, is currently a member of PSTA and 2011-12District Teacher of the Year for Marlboro County. She is a certifiedmentor for South Carolina.

Trevor Ivey, Alice Drive Middle School
Mr. Ivey is a 6th grade science teacher with five years of experience ineducation, all with Sumter Schools. He has taught at both theelementary and middle school level. He has served in leadershipcapacities at both the school and district level. He left the professionto complete a yearlong residency program at Harvard University, wherehe earned his master’s degree in educational policy and management.Trevor has conducted significant research on the importance of trust andhow it can be used as a core resource for school improvement. He iscurrently seeking National Board Teacher Certification. In 2011, hebecame a certified mentor through CERRA. Trevor participated in theTeacher Cadet Program as a senior at Lakewood High School in 2002.

Sandra White, Ridgeland Middle School
Ms. White is graduate of Georgia Southern University where she obtained abachelor’s degree in education. She later attended Armstrong AtlanticState University in Savannah where she earned a Master of EducationDegree. White taught in Georgia for approximately three years until shemoved to South Carolina. She has been teaching in Ridgeland for overfourteen years. She is the lead mentor at her school and also a mentortrainer. White has previously served on the Board.

Erica Roberts, Charleston County School District
Ms. Roberts is a teacher leader. Roberts was a Teacher Cadet at NorthAugusta High School. She began her career teaching fourth grade readingand social studies. She has spent the last six years teaching socialstudies at the middle school level. She is now serving five area schoolsas a gifted and talented itinerant teacher. During her third year ofteaching, she was named Charleston County’s Teacher of the Yearrunner-up. She received her National Board Certification in 2009. She isa CERRA certified mentor and certified mentor trainer. She has alsoserved as a leader in teacher development at the state, district, andlocal levels.

About The Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement
CERRA is the oldest and most established teacher recruitment program inthe country. The Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention andAdvancement, established by the Commission on Higher Education inDecember 1985 and funded by the South Carolina General Assembly, enteredits 26th year of operation in 2011-2012. Following the passage of thestate’s landmark Education Improvement Act, CERRA was created out of aconcern for the condition of South Carolina’s teacher supply pool and aneed for a centralized teacher recruitment effort.

CERRA also targets groups of accomplished teachers through programsincluding mentoring, teacher leadership and National BoardCertification. The network of educators in our programs overlaps inpowerful ways to increase the level of collaboration for recruitment,retention and advancement of South Carolina educators. For moreinformation about CERRA, visit www.cerra.org.