Dr. James Robinson, social studies teacher at Bainbridge High School, has been named the 2014-2015 Decatur County Teacher of the Year. Robinson, along with each county school’s Teachers of the Year, was recognized at the Decatur County Board of Education meeting Thursday night.
Dr. Robinson, a 12-year veteran at Bainbridge High School, worked in law enforcement before changing professions and becoming a teacher.
“At the beginning of his days at the high school, it was just a job. But as the years progressed, what was a job became a passion and got on fire about five or six years ago,” said Tommie Howell, principal at Bainbridge High School. “He embraced technology and became a teacher leader in our social studies department, particularly United States History. As a result, our tests scores rose sharply and are higher than state average.”
Dr. Robinson is also involved in many extracurricular activities including leading the Mock Trial team.
Each school votes by secret ballot to choose the person who best exemplifies the best practices of the teaching profession. To determine the system-wide winner, each school’s representative completes an essay and is observed in a classroom setting by members of the selection committee. The committee then chooses the system-wide winner. The Teacher of the Year committee is comprised of former Teachers of the Year and Maribeth Burke, a former Teacher of the Year and a teacher at Bainbridge Middle School, chaired the committee.
Individual school winners include Jamie Ard from John Johnson Elementary School, Jenny Livingston from Potter Street Elementary School, Lynn Myler from Elcan-King Elementary School, Dana Martin from West Bainbridge Elementary School, Otha Backey from Jones-Wheat Elementary School, Marilyn Melton from Hutto Middle School, and Cindy Harrell from Bainbridge Middle School.