We congratulate Kellie Martin, the mother of a first-grade student at Elcan-King Elementary School, for being one of six winners of the “Georgia Parent Leadership Award.”

Martin is not only a volunteer at EKES, but also serves as the school’s parent involvement coordinator. As the coordinator, she also helps train other parent volunteers to help in the schools.

Research has shown that students do better in school when their parents are involved in the educational process. One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is through becoming a parent volunteer, and we are happy that Decatur County has people like Martin who sacrifice their time and energy to make our schools better.

We also congratulate Dr. April Aldridge, the Decatur County Title I director, and Dr. Cheryl Guy, the Decatur County Schools’ parent involvement coordinator. In recent months, the school system has placed a special emphasis on increasing the number of parent volunteers in the schools. The school system has used advertising, media coverage, and regular workshops and classes to achieve this goal, and Martin’s award is also a testament to that hard work.

We hope that other parents will follow Martin’s lead and become involved in the schools as well. For more information on becoming a parent volunteer, call Guy at (229) 243-6847 or (229) 243-6844, or email her at cguy@dcboe.com.