Exceptional People Serving Exceptional Children: Part 2

Marcia Combs

This is the second installment of a new series in The Exceptional Times that highlights people in the Exceptional Children Department.

Marcia Combs is known as one of Carter High School’s quiet worker bees. She has a way of completing tasks and assisting colleagues with diplomacy and ease. She can always be called upon to help in any situation. She puts her students first and eagerly engages alongside them.

Marcia is rarely absent. When she is, one can rest assured that she has made prior arrangements with her students’ families and colleagues to ensure her bus duties are covered and her students are taken care of. Marcia is mature and level-headed. She serves as a leader within the TA community at Carter.

She helps students understand concepts and directions by sharing her own life experiences. She has a wonderful sense of humor which makes learning fun for students and colleagues, alike.

Marcia is currently juggling work and school and doing a fantastic job in both areas! She also brings diversity to our Foods I course as she has been a vegetarian for many years. Marcia Combs is a valuable asset to team Carter!

Amy Ehrens with students

Amy Ehrens, who teaches the self-contained K-1 classroom at Rural Hall Elementary School, is driven by her passion for teaching. Not only does she give 100 percent to the students in her classroom but also to all students at Rural Hall.

She goes above and beyond by thoughtfully building positive relationships with her students and parents. When she is asked about different techniques or interventions to help other Bulldog students, she carefully finds the appropriate strategies that will help both the students and staff members.

She also has an unending supply of hope which she shares with students and staff. Rural Hall is grateful to have Amy Ehrens as one of their staff.

Bryan Bailey

Walkertown Middle School has a great EC staff that all go ABOVE AND BEYOND! They take pride in everything they do; they are passionate and are truly great professionals. One of those incredible individuals is Bryan Bailey, EC assistant and the athletic director at Walkertown Middle School.

He knows just about every student in the school and knows how to talk to each of them in a way that makes them feel cared for and special. He arrives super early every day and stays late most days with sports. He is really flexible and really rolls with the "punches." He takes the hard-to-deal-with kids and makes them feel understood.

He helps them to realize they can do what they need to do. He can walk into any class and pick up exactly where the teacher is, even when it is a difficult class environment! He helps keep everything running smoothly, even in times when nothing seems to be going right.

Bryan is really good at just talking to the kids. Sometimes, he lets them run special errands with him which they really enjoy. He puts things in perspective for them and helps them understand what is going on. He almost always has a smile and something positive to say to them.

Interventions and techniques so often have to change from day to day or between different students. He keeps moving with whatever changes are made and is able to enhance the interventions being used. Walkertown Middle School could not do it without him!

To read the whole issue of The Exceptional Times, go to The Exceptional Times