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Thursday night, Superintendent Tim Cochran presented several faculty members with awards they had recently received from the state level.

School Nutrition Director, Nita Floyd was recognized first by Cochran.

Floyd received a commendation from No Kid Hungry Georgia. The commendation was given in response to the work Floyd and the nutrition team did during COVID-19 and summer feeding.

Cochran thanked Floyd and her team for their dedication to the students’ needs, before presenting her with a plaque and commendation.

Cochran then presented Tim Matthews with an award of excellence for financial reporting.

“Our district every year receives high marks on financial reporting,” Cochran said. “We get no marks and have no issues and that’s all due to in part to Tim and his group.”

Cochran thanked Matthews for his quality of financial reporting, before presenting the final award of the night to Ortega Ross.

Ross’ school West Bainbridge Elementary, received a Title 1 Reward School from the Department of Education for 2021.

“This is just proof of some of the amazing things we are doing in Decatur County,” Cochran said.

A Reward School is among the five percent of Title 1 schools in the state that are making the most progress in improving the performance of all students over the most recent two years on the statewide assessments.

Because assessments were not administered in the 2020-2021 school year, this year’s list was based on the 2018-19 and 2019-20 data.

Cochran congratulated Ross and thanked her for all she does at West Bainbridge Elementary.

Cochran himself also received a Governor’s Commendation after receiving a leadership award from the Superintendent’s Association and the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders earlier in the summer.

Board Chairman Keith Lyle spoke on behalf of the BOE, thanking everyone for their commendable work, even during difficult times.

“The Board wants to thank the good work of the folks at West Bainbridge, the folks that work in school nutrition, the folks that work in school finance and you, Mr. Cochran,” Lyle said. “It’s been a rough start and we’ve dealt with COVID, a hurricane and the death of a beloved staff member, so it’s not wasted on the board what you have to deal with, and we appreciate that… the community appreciates that and I don’t think we can tell you that enough.”

Lyle encouraged everyone present to keep up the good work and reach out if they ever needed anything.