By Sarrah Peters, News Editor
At the April 4 Gadsden City Board of Education meeting, the board recognized the city school’s Teachers of the Year. Students from each school were also recognized for his or her achievements during the meeting.
The 2016-2017 Teachers of the Year are Cheryl Fincher of Oscar Adams Elementary; Joy Downey of Eura Brown Elementary; Amanda Rogers of R.A. Mitchell Elementary; Orsala Turner of Ray Thompson Elementary; Dawn Rains of Donahoo Elementary; Valerie Hipp of George W. Floyd Elementary School; Anna Tow of Striplin Elementary; Kathy Roberts of Gadsden Middle School; Buffy Vaughn of Emma Samson Middle; Celestia Dawson of Litchfield Middle; and Jill DeGaetano of Gadsden City High.
The systemwide elementary Teacher of the Year was Amanda Rogers. The systemwide secondary Teacher of the Year was Kathy Roberts. These two teachers will compete for the statewide Teacher of the Year award.
Each of the 12 schools then honored its most outstanding students. These students were honored for academic, athletic, leadership and musical accomplishments. Over 100 students were honored.
Gadsden City High School also honored the success of its Beautiful Rainbow Cafe and Catering program.
Beautiful Rainbow began three years ago as a summer and after-school program for young men with special needs.
Beautiful Rainbow teaches its students valuable culinary skills, including safe food preparation and sustainable gardening. The goal is to give the students skills they can use for careers in the food service industry.
Last year, the program partnered with the Gadsden Public Library to open a cafe inside the library.
