Smyrna Recognizes Excellence in Local Schools

“Loving.” “Respectful.” “Shining stars.” These were just some of the words used to describe the 40 or so students, volunteers and faculty honored at last night’s ceremony at City Hall.

Twice a year the mayor and city council ask all the principals from the 12 schools in Smyrna to choose an exemplary student, volunteer and faculty member. This tradition began in 2005 and Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon was again on hand Monday to give out the awards.

“I think I say this every time when I come, but I mean it so heartfelt this year,” said Joanne Robblee, principal. “This has grown. It was a vision that Max and the council came up with. And I can tell you that educators and excellence in education really doesn’t get praised enough, so this is really a wonderful moment for the special people in this room.”

Students were honored for everything from academic achievement to good character.

One student, Patrick Will from was honored for his excellence both in and out of the classroom. Mike Bivens, Green Acres principal, pointed out that while he was impressed with Will’s grades, he was most impressed with how he took care of his little brother as they walked to school each day.

Some of the volunteers receiving recognition weren’t even parents of children at the Smyrna schools. Dennis and Jenny McLean were recognized for their work with the Science Olympiad team at even though they don’t have children enrolled in the school. 

honored an entire company of volunteers. Robert Babay, Argyle’s principal, recognized IBM for its volunteer efforts painting and cleaning the school.

Many of the faculty honorees were retiring after years of service to their schools. Cindy Patterson and Crystal Force are retiring from with 70 years combined experience as educators.

John Floresta is a special education teacher at . Soon-to-be departing CHS Principal Grant Rivera and the rest of the staff at Campbell chose to honor him because of the improvement he fostered in the test scores of special education students. Special education students at Campbell saw a 30 to 40 percent increase in grades and test scores across every subject.

“I said to the administrators and the folks that were a part of that and said, ‘We need to figure out how we did this,’” Rivera said. ‘“Tell me how we had the success. I want to write a book and sell it.’ They said, ‘Your book has two words in it: John Floresta.’”

Honorees were awarded a certificate, t-shirt and gift certificate to .