Jackson chamber names educators of year

The Jackson Chamber of Commerce has named six public and parochial school teachers as educators of the year.

They are Sally Lipke, a second-grade teacher at St. Paul Lutheran School; Carole Baugh, a teacher at West Lane Elementary School; Dan Brown, a biology and chemistry teacher at Jackson High School; David Brummel, an eighth-grade science teacher at Russell Hawkins Junior High School; Julie Walker, who teaches academically gifted students at Jackson Middle School, and Kelly Crawford, a music teacher at West Lane Elementary School and the Millersville Attendance Center.

The teachers will be honored at a chamber banquet at 6 tonight at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Jackson.

"We have six outstanding teachers this year," said Marybeth Williams, executive director of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce.

This is the 10th year that the chamber has honored local educators, she said.

The chamber, she said, realizes the importance of good schools. "It's one of the leading reasons why people move to Jackson," Williams said.

The six educators were chosen from among about 50 public and parochial school teachers nominated by their fellow teachers.

An independent panel of area business leaders interviewed the nominees to select the winners.

The honored educators will receive $100 each from the Jackson School Foundation, a gift basket and $100 savings bonds.

Lipke, who moved to Jackson in 1979, has served as a preschool teacher and director of a child-care center prior to becoming a second-grade teacher at St. Paul Lutheran School.

Baugh has worked in elementary education for 31 years. She previously taught at Scott County Central School and at the Gordonville Attendance Center. She has taught at West Lane Elementary School for the past 21 years.

Brown has taught biology and chemistry for 23 years, the past 12 years at Jackson High School.

Brummel is in his eighth year of teaching at the junior high school. He teaches various science classes, including biology and earth science. He also serves as head tennis coach and as assistant coach for the girls' soccer team.

Walker has been teaching academically gifted students in fifth through seventh grades in the Jackson school system since 1995. She previously taught first grade for one year at Orchard Elementary School. Prior to that, she taught preschool.

Crawford has taught in the Jackson School District for seven years. She founded and directs the West Lane Singers, a select group of fifth-graders who practice once a week before school.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123