Board recognizes teachers, principals and students for academic growth and service
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The board held extended recognitions, honoring fine-arts teachers, academic-growth schools, principal and teacher-of-the-year awards, special-education honors and athletics sportsmanship recognitions.
The Oct. 14 Lincoln County Schools board meeting included multiple recognitions of teachers, principals, students and schools for academic progress, arts leadership and community service.
The board honored fine-arts teachers from across the district during a recognition ceremony that included student-nominated videos and on-stage presentations. Specific educators named included Brooke Russell (art, North Lincoln High School), Jennifer Falconberry (art, East Lincoln High School), Tina Boles (art, West Lincoln Middle School) and Jason Fisher (band, Lincoln High School). The superintendent and board praised the role fine-arts teachers play in student development.
District officials also recognized schools that "met growth" or "exceeded growth" in the 2024–25 year. Examples cited in the meeting record included Love Memorial Elementary (met growth in reading and math), Rock Springs Elementary (met growth overall and strong subgroup results), Esrae Louder Elementary, St. James Elementary, Union Elementary and East Lincoln High School (graduation rate over 90% and large gains on a math end-of-course exam). Schools exceeding growth included Battleground Elementary and Iron Station Elementary; Norris Childers Elementary was also singled out for math growth.
Individual awards included Kelly Dellinger of Union Elementary as Principal of the Year and Caroline Beam of West Lincoln High School as Lincoln County Schools Beginning Teacher of the Year for 2025–26. Joseph Rothwell was recognized as the district's Exceptional Children's Educator of Excellence and will be honored at a statewide conference in Greensboro on Nov. 20. The board also recognized three "ejection-free" athletics programs (North Lincoln Middle, Lincolnton Middle and West Lincoln) for sportsmanship.
Many honorees were invited to stand onstage and receive applause; the transcript records extended praise from administrators and peers but does not show financial awards tied to the recognitions.