This week, the Public School Forum of North Carolina convened its inaugural cohort of the newly launched Rural Teacher Leader Network (RTLN), which is designed to bring together diverse groups of educators across North Carolina who seek to strengthen their practice, foster community with teacher leaders from across other rural districts, and develop their own leadership capacity in order to guide other teachers in their schools. The network aims to create a strong and lasting community of rural educators with a focus on equity, trauma-informed practice, global education, and teacher leadership.
“We are thrilled to kick-off the first cohort of the Rural Teacher Leader Network with a phenomenal group of elementary, middle, and high school educators serving communities across the rural, eastern part of our state,” said Dr. Mary Ann Wolf, the Forum’s President and Executive Director. “We had a very strong applicant pool of teachers who wished to participate in this opportunity, which only reinforced the need and demand for a program like the Rural Teacher Leader Network. The selected educators for this cohort will come away with an experience that we believe will equip them to lead their fellow educators and students in their communities in transformative ways.”
The RTLN was made possible through a generous grant made by the Anonymous Trust, and will initially support this inaugural cohort that comprises educators from Clinton City, Duplin County, Greene County, Jones County, Onslow County, Sampson County, and Wayne County schools; this grant will provide support for another cohort beginning in the summer of 2022.
The programming will be facilitated by the Public School Forum in partnership with LeadingEDge Learning. The Forum hopes to expand the RTLN to other regions across the state in future years. Additional outreach and convening support was provided by the Southeast Education Alliance RESA, which includes several districts represented by educators in the Rural Teacher Leader Network. More than eighty educators applied for participation in RTLN; participants were admitted through a rigorous selection process. We would like to congratulate this year’s cohort members, who are listed below.
2021-2022 Rural Teacher Leader Network
Dana Bergeron, Jones County Schools
Christopher Brothers, Onslow County Schools
Syrena Bryant, Wayne County Schools
Arlisa Broadnax-Dail, Onslow County Schools
Albertia Burgess, Onslow County Schools
Mykkia Combs, Jones County Schools
Kelly Dillman, Onslow County Schools
Briana Edgerton, Wayne County Schools
Kristen Ess, Sampson County Schools
Kimberly Gagliano, Wayne County Schools
Colleen Gallagher, Duplin County Schools
Vanessa Garcia, Clinton City Schools
Jane Greene, Duplin County Schools
Alisha Gulick, Sampson County Schools
Barbara Hayes, Jones County Schools
Mercedes Hopkins, Wayne County Schools
Megan Hunt, Onslow County Schools
Jennifer Jackson, Sampson County Schools
Leah Jorgensen, Onslow County Schools
Kimberly Kammerer, Jones County Schools
Kristen Kane, Duplin County Schools
Emily Lahr, Greene County Schools
Cynthia Lee, Sampson County Schools
Thomas Loftin, Greene County Schools
Vevlyn Lowe, Clinton City Schools
Arleta Maria Lupa, Onslow County Schools
Chelsea McGraw, Sampson County Schools
Anna Maxwell, Onslow County Schools
Stephanie Orosco, Wayne County Schools
Casie Penner, Wayne County Schools
Catherine Ruiz, Sampson County Schools
Meagan Stephens, Onslow County Schools
Sherida Suggs, Wayne County Schools
Kimberly Sutton, Wayne County Schools
Kristen G Taylor, Greene County Schools
Kristine Travers, Sampson County Schools
Carol Williams, Sampson County Schools
Katelyn Williams, Onslow County Schools
Johanna Wood, Wayne County Schools
