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Robert E. Wells is slated to take over Nov. 1 as the executive director of the Association of California School Administrators. Mr. Wells, 44, has served as the Sacramento-based group’s assistant executive director since 1996 and was previously the director of governmental relations and a legislative advocate. The association, which was established in 1971 and represents 15,000 California school officials, works to help shape state education policy. Mr. Wells replaces E. Thomas Giugni, who retired this month after serving as the group’s executive director since 1994.
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Thomas P. Jandris became the director of policy studies and special projects for the Education Commission of the States last week. Mr. Jandris, 50, has served since 1996 as the chief executive officer for Fox River Learning, a private developer of learning and measurement tools in Batavia, Ill. The Denver-based ECS provides support for state lawmakers and school leaders in devising and implementing policies for improving education.
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Teachers from Florida and Georgia have won the National Teacher Award for Advancing Special Education Through the Arts, given by the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education, based in Waynesboro, Va. Vickie A. McCrary, a special education teacher at the 3,000-student Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Ga., created a program in which pupils with emotional, behavioral, and physical disabilities run a silk-screen-printing business out of the classroom.
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Sheree Rensel, an art teacher at the Hamilton Disston Exceptional Center in Gulfport, Fla., who has been teaching for 18 years, initiated a project specially designed for students with disabilities. “Reflections of Ourselves,’' encourages students with severe emotional disabilities to form a positive self-image through writing, drawing, and creating three-dimensional art. Each of the two winners receives a $2,500 cash prize, plus $2,500 for her school. The award is usually given to one person.
--MICHELLE GALLEY
