Lexington District One promotes Cherry, Jackson
January 22, 2018
During its Jan. 16, 2018 Board Meeting, the Lexington County School District One Board of Trustees approved the promotion of Sandra “Sandy” R. Cherry to the position of assistant administrator at Pelion Elementary School effective immediately and the promotion of Melanie R. Jackson to the position of Operations Program Supervisor in Central Services effective Feb. 1, 2018.
Sandra “Sandy” R. Cherry, who has 18 years of educational experience, began her career in 1990 as a fourth-grade teacher at Lemira Elementary School in Sumter County School District 17.
She moved to Sam Houston Elementary School in San Felipe Del Rio CISD, in Del Rio, Texas, as a kindergarten teacher in 1991 and, in 1993, to Irmo Elementary School in Lexington-Richland School District Five as a third- and fourth-grade special education teacher before becoming a first-grade teacher.
In 1995, Cherry joined Windsor Hill Elementary School in Dorchester School District Two as a first-grade teacher, then moved to Japan in 2001, teaching third grade at Cummings Elementary School, a Department of Defense School located on Misawa Air Base.
From 2007 through 2014, she taught in Virginia at John Marshall Elementary School in Newport News Public Schools as a second-grade teacher and at Grafton Bethel Elementary School in the York County School Division as a third-, fourth- and fifth-grade teacher.
Cherry joined Lexington District One in 2014 and currently serves as a fourth-grade gifted and talented teacher at Saxe Gotha Elementary School. At SGES, she holds several leadership roles as a member of the district’s Teacher Leadership Council, a 4.0/SAFE-T Teacher Evaluator, a Teacher Mentor and a member of the school’s Lighthouse Team. She also received SGES Teacher of the Year honors in 2015–2016.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in early childhood education and Master of Arts in educational administration from the University of South Carolina. With Highly Qualified status in Early Childhood and Elementary Education as well as Gifted- and Talented-endorsed, she completes her Literacy Teacher add-on certification in April 2018.
Cherry is a member of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators, South Carolina State Council of the International Reading Association and the Palmetto Teachers Association.
Melanie R. Jackson, who currently serves as executive secretary at River Bluff High School, has more than 25 years of accounting experience.
She began her career as a full-charge bookkeeper for Lido Pacific Group in Palm Desert, California, in 1989. She moved to South Carolina in 1993 and to Columbia in 1999 where she worked in accounts receivable with PMSC Corporation.
Jackson became a staff accountant for Virtual Growth in 2000 before joining Blanchard Machinery in 2003 as a financial analyst. She served in that position for three years before transitioning to 6 Sigma Black Belt for four years and adding project team trainer to her skill set. In 2008, she was promoted to accounting manager before moving to accounting administrator at UTi Integrated Logistics in 2011.
In 2012, she joined the newly formed River Bluff High School as executive secretary.
Jackson earned an Associate of Arts in general studies from Midlands Technical College and a Bachelor of Science in business management from Western Governors University based in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also completed the Darla Moore School of Business Certificate in Leadership Excellence program.
