Renfroe's Robyn Tibbetts Named 2011-12 Decatur Teacher of the Year

Robyn Tibbetts, a seventh-grade Renfroe Middle School social studies teacher and a graduate of , was honored Tuesday night as Decatur's system-wide Teacher of the Year for 2011-12.

Tibbetts, a longtime resident of Decatur, will now compete for the statewide Teacher of the Year honor.

Tibbetts was honored at Tuesday night's Decatur School Board meeting, along with other outstanding teachers from the city system's schools.

She began her professional career as a paraprofessional at Renfroe in August 2001 and later was a Crossroads teacher. She received her bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University and her master’s degree from Walden University. 

Tibbetts is married to Barrett Tibbetts, who is site director at Project R.E.A.L., Renfroe Middle School's after-school program. Their 5-year-old son, Barrett Tibbetts Jr., attends pre-K at the College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center.

Superintendent Phyllis Edwards presented Tibbetts with a giant check for $1,000, to be spent on a professional learning experience, as well as a trophy and a flower arrangement.

"We are very proud of a Teachers of the Year," said Edwards. "They represent the very best of Decatur: high-quality instruction, thoughtful assessment, outstanding professionalism and strong relationships with students and families.”

Other teachers of the year from individual schools are:

Allison Mansfield, a pre-K teacher at the College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC). Mansfield, who has been with the system since 2007, attended Georgia State University and graduated from Brenau University with a bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education. School officials wrote, “on a typical day at College Heights, you are likely to catch Allison with her students out in the garden digging in the dirst looking for worms or turning the compost pile."

Ann Guilfoile, an EIP Teacher at Clairemont Elementary, began teaching in Decatur in 2008 with 22 years of prior teaching experience. After teaching for a few years in Massachusetts, she began teaching in in 1994 with DeKalb County Schools. She has taught second, third and sixth grades and has been a reading specialist. Guilfoile received a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in education from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. She has been trained in Reading Recovery and Orton Gillingham. She enjoys travel, listening to her husband play music and attending “roller derby events.”

Argean Vokes, a music teacher at Oakhurst Elementary, began teaching in Decatur in 1993 as a paraprofessional at Westchester Elementary and in 2001 became a systemwide elementary music teacher. She received a bachelors in music education from Capital University and a masters from Georgia State in 2010. She is married to Brent Alan Vokes, an elementary band director for Dekalb County Schools, and their two sons are both Decatur High School and college graduates.  

Laura Pitts, a kindergarten teacher at Winnona Park Elementary, began teaching in Decatur in 2006 after teaching in DeKalb County schools and several preschools. She received a bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Georgia Southwestern State University and a master’s degree from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Penn. Her two children attend CSD schools.

William Withers, a Title I Math teacher at the 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue, has taught in Decatur since 1991, including at Oakhurst and Glennwood. He received a B.A. in English and Religion from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania and a master’s in early childhood education from Georgia State University. Wither, whose wife is a Georgia State professor, is a model for the city's program because he walks daily to school from his home near Glenlake. His comment, “I get to teach math all day.”

Charles Copp is an ESS teacher and the head coach for the Decatur High boy’s basketball team. He received his Georgia teaching certification through an alternative route. He has a bachelors’ in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in kinesiology from Georgia South. He teachers social students to students with disabilities. His wife, Amelia, teaches at Glennwood Elementary and their son attends the Frasier Center at DHS.

To be eligible to be Decatur's Teacher of the Year, educators must at least be in their fourth year of employment in the system; demonstrate  leadership within the school or school system; work well with school staff, parents and administrators; and provide "evidence of student achievement and engagement by providing a stimulating classroom environment."