May 4-8, 2020, is National Teacher Appreciation Week. To make an indelible mark on a child’s life requires a calling and a commitment to being your best for your students every day. The current pandemic has shined a light on the invaluable work teachers do more than ever! To honor these “Rock Star Teachers,” we’ll be sharing the stories of just a few who have gone Above and Beyond. 

Kelly Painter nominates Sally Pierce, a high school English teacher at Bradford Prep. Kelly says, “She is the perfect teacher for Bradford! Sally is the type of teacher that goes out of her way to do anything for her students! Her number one priority is the relationship with her students. She connects with them in an amazing way, and those connections allow her to take her teaching to a different level. Not only is she the “cool” teacher, but she is the teacher that sets very high expectations and then provides a safe and loving environment and a ladder of support to help all her students meet those expectations. Every day at lunch, you will find many high school students voluntarily having lunch in her classroom just so they can talk to her. She takes initiative, she takes risks, she helps push our school to the next level, and she is the model teacher that we have striven for at Bradford. Every time we have a visitor at our school, they make a comment about Sally and her classroom. It is by far, one of my favorite rooms on our campus because you can feel the love and passion she has for every one of her students.  Sally is a charter school Rock Star Teacher!”