City schools recognize student's scholarship to Yale, Teachers of the Year

Patrick Camp, The Cullman Times, Ala.
·3 min read

Dec. 13—In its last meeting of 2023, the Cullman City School Board recognized each school's top educators as well as announcing one particularly exciting student accomplishment.

Cullman High School senior Sophie Peetz was named the Student of the Month, but her most recent achievement is the culmination of her accomplishments throughout her secondary education career.

Peetz received her acceptance letter from Yale University last week. With a recent acceptance rating of less than 5 percent, this in and of itself would be a remarkable accomplishment. However, Peetz also learned she would be receiving a full academic scholarship to the Ivy League university.

Peetz joined Cullman City Schools during her fifth grade year at West Elementary. On Tuesday, Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff presented her with a bouquet of white roses and said her accomplishment should act as a reminder for educators to always keep "the big picture" in mind.

"Sometimes we get stuck in a world of trying to comply with the Literacy Act or preparing for the marching band. But there's a bigger picture that we're not aware of or maybe we don't see that's the fruit of our labor," Kallhoff said. "This is an example of the end result of our work."

The board also recognized the following educators as each school's Teachers of the Year:

* Cullman City Primary School — Susan Sharpe

* East Elementary School — Leeanna Smith

* West Elementary School — Miranda Gunter

* Cullman Middle School — Cassie Bowen

* Cullman High School — David Benefield

One of the district's Teachers of the Year has been named as a finalist in the State's Teacher of the Year nomination process.

In other business the board:

* Approved a Memorandum of Agreement for Clinical Experiences with the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Education.

* Approved a contract for mileage effective Dec. 1, 2023 through Sept. 30, 2024.

* Approved a contract with Patrick Bates for technical projects with the CCS Technology Department.

* Approved a joint purchasing agreement with Sand Mountain CNP Cooperative.

* Approved the following transfers: Jacob Brown — from Turning Point teacher to Cullman High School teacher; Brad Pounds — from Cullman High School teacher to Turning Point teacher.

* Approved the following reassignments: Jana Grimes — from seven hour instructional assistant at Cullman Middle School to seven-and-a-half hour instructional assistant at Cullman Middle School; Caleigh Anderson — from six-and-a-half hour instructional assistant at Cullman Middle School to seven-and-a-half hour instructional assistant at Cullman Middle School; Bobbie Maury -from seven hour instructional assistant at Cullman Middle School to seven-and-a-half hour instructional assistant at Cullman Middle School.

* Approved the conditional employment of the following personnel: Madelyn Hendrix — long term substitute for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year at Cullman City Primary School; Kimberly McNutt — long term substitute to fill a leave of absence at Cullman City Primary School.

* Approved the following supplements: Hannah Richter — Girls JV assistant soccer community coach at five percent; Todd Ewing — Assistant fishing coach at Cullman High School at four percent.