GCPS Holds Luncheon for Over 300 Retirees

This year more than 300 employees are retiring from Gwinnett County Public Schools. On Tuesday, May 31 a luncheon was held in their honor at the Gwinnett Center’s Grand Ballroom. Amazingly 35 percent (132) of these retirees have  worked for their entire careers within the Gwinnett County Public School System. A special thank you goes out to the below listed retirees from our Dacula area schools:

• Linda J. Backelant, Language Arts Teacher,
• Kitty Bowers, Art Teacher,
• Dr. Helen Clark, Counselor, Archer High
• Cindy Coleman, Special Education Teacher,
• JoDee Collick, 3rd Grade Teacher,
• Melvina Collins, Custodian,
• Sheirlyn Cox, 6th Grade Gifted Social Studies Teacher, Twin Rivers Middle
• Becky Craig, Clinic Worker,
• Tom De Bra, Computer Technology Teacher, Twin Rivers Middle
• Jana Ferris, Gifted Education Teacher,
• D'Ann Franklin, Career Connections Teacher, Jones Middle
• Glenn George, Assistant Principal,
• Rick Gilleland, District Maintenance Foreman, Hamilton Mill District Maintenance Shop
• Linda C. Glausier, School Clerk I,
• Pam Jenkins, Special Education Teacher,
• Annie Kiley, Paraprofessional,
• Dr. Janet Lewis, Literacy Coach,
• Darlene Long, Special Education Teacher,
• Cathy Maloney, School Clerk,

More Local School News:

• Congratulations to Grace Liu of . Liu was named the state winner for the National Honor Society Scholarship program. Liu was awarded $1,500 for this honor.
• DECA students from along with students from nine other GCPS were recently honored at the state DECA competition. 
• Recently 81 head school custodians were honored at the 21st annual head Custodian Appreciation Breakfast. Thank you to our local school custodians: Tanya Aciu from , Mark Humphrey from , Joe Wimmer from , Vickie Hendrix from Freeman's Mill, Joan Tullis from, Keith Hailey from , Steve Nunley from , Julie Beverly from Archer High, Lidia Beganovic from and Debra McGaha from Mountain View.
• GCPS TV has received three Southeast Regional Emmy Award nominations. Winners will be announced on June 18 at the 37th Presentation for the Southeast Regional Emmy Awards.
• Congratulations to Michael Green and Tyler Kvietkus, students, who placed second in the recent state FBLA competition in the area of Entrepreneurship.
• Congratulations to l teacher Anna Lawrence who has been selected to the 2011-2012 Teachers as Leaders class and will be participating in quality teacher leadership development.
• Congratulations to the Lions who won the state baseball championship last week by defeating Providence in a two game sweep.

Upcoming School Events:

• Provost Academy Georgia is holding a community informational meeting on June 16 at the Hamilton Mill Library anytime between the hours of 10:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. Provost Academy is a state-wide tuition free online public charter high school. Enrollment started on April 1 at the Charter Schools Rock event at Atlantic Station. Hopes are to open in the fall with 800 students.
• Grayson Technical Education Program is offering all seventh and eighth graders attending a GCPS a Middle School Summer Career Academy. This four day camp will allow students to explore various career options. Registration deadline is June 13. Contact Lisa Daenen at 770-554-7082 for information.

Georgia Gwinnett College Update

• Georgia Gwinnett College is expanding its academic program offerings for Fall of 2011. GGC students will have new academic program choices beginning in the Fall of 2011. These new programs will include leadership management information systems, political science, information technology, English and teacher education. Students interested to attending GGC are invited to attend an Open House on June 7 or June 28. Register or read more about the Open House events visit the GGC website here.