Jefferson County Schools

Leads - Schools/Courses - Calendar

English:
Susan Ronilo Caraway has thirty-two years of classroom experience primarily in the Jefferson County School System teaching Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition, Dual Enrollment English 101 and English 102, 10th Grade English, and Magazine Journalism. She currently teaches at Clay Chalkville High School. Ms. Caraway received National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification in English Language Arts/Adolescence and Young Adulthood in 2004 and serves as a facilitator and Candidate Support Provider for the Stellar Teaching Program, which supports National Board for Professional Teaching Standards candidates. She is a distinguished educator, having been selected as Jefferson County School System’s 2003 Secondary Teacher of the Year, 2003 Secondary Teacher of the Year for Alabama School Board District VI, 2003 National Council of Teachers of English Teacher of Excellence the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s 2003 Advanced Placement English Teacher Award recipient and a 2004 Birmingham Post Herald Distinguished Teacher Award recipient.

Math:
Nidia Fernandez Lee has been teaching math for 8 years, 5 years at Clay-Chalkville Middle School and AP Calculus for 3 years at Shades Valley High School/Jefferson County International Baccalaureate, which has been identified as one of Newsweek’s 150 Best American High Schools. Ms. Lee has been teaching AP Calculus online for ACCESS and will be teaching AP Statistics at Hueytown High School this upcoming year. She attended Georgia Tech University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) for her undergraduate degree in psychology and attended graduate school for a Masters in Math Education at UAB.

Science:

Doris Chandler is a graduate of the University of Alabama (BS Education) and the University of Alabama in Birmingham (MA Education). She brings twenty-six years of high school classroom experience to the A+ College Ready/Jefferson County Lead Teacher team. Named 2003 Outstanding High School Chemistry Teacher of the Year by the Alabama Section of the American Chemical Society, she has taught AP Chemistry for nine plus years. Over the course of her professional career she has served in the following leadership roles: science department chairperson (fifteen years) at three high schools; cooperating teacher for science student teachers from the University of Alabama, University of Alabama in Birmingham and the University of Montevallo; chairperson SACS Peer Review Team, 2002; member SACS Steering Committee and chairperson SACS Task Committee, 200-2001; member, School Improvement Teams; co-presenter, Alabama Science Teachers' Association Conference and ChemEd Conference; presenter, AP Chemistry labs, VASS Forum 2009. Doris is a Laying the Foundation Trainer and was co-leader for the Advanced Placement Instructional Team Program in Chemistry during 2008-2009. Highly qualified in chemistry and general science, she currently teaches AP Chemistry at Pinson Valley High School.

Schools Involved:

Clay-Chalkville High School
     AP courses offered: English Language, English Literature, Calculus AB, Biology, Chemistry, Physics B

Gardendale High School
     AP courses offered: English Language, English Literature, Calculus AB, Biology, Chemistry,
                                   Environmental Science, Physics B

Hueytown High School
     AP courses offered: English Language, English Literature, Calculus AB, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry

Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School
     AP courses offered: English Language, English Literature, Calculus AB, Biology, Chemistry,
                                   Environmental Science, Physics B, Physics C: E&M

Minor High School
     AP courses offered: English Language, English Literature, Calculus AB, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry,
                                   Physics B

Pinson Valley High School
     AP courses offered: English Language, English Literature, Calculus AB, Biology, Chemistry

Pleasant Grove High School
     AP courses offered: English Language, English Literature, Calculus AB, Biology, Chemistry

Shades Valley High School
     AP courses offered: English Language, English Literature, Calculus BC, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry,
                                   Physics B, Physics C: E&M

Calender of Events:

July
13 & 14 APSI for Administrators at Auburn
20-24 APSI for Biology, Chemistry, and Physics at UA
27 & 28 LTF training (Days 1 & 2) at Pinson Valley High School

August
6 & 7 LTF training (Days 3 & 4) at Pinson Valley High School
25 Year 1 Results Celebration & Vertical Team meeting 1 at Shades Valley High School

September
26 English Prep session 1 for Jefferson County and Birmingham City at UAB in the Humanities and Education Building

October
14 PSAT testing at individual schools
23 & 24 2 day Workshop at the McWane Center in Birmingham

November
17 Vertical Team meeting 2 will be held in each high school/middle school feeder pattern.

December
5 English Prep session 2 for Jefferson County and Birmingham City at UAB

January
9 Science Prep session 1 for Jefferson County and Birmingham City at UAB in Campbell and Heritage Halls
26 Vertical Team meeting 3 will be held in each high school/middle school feeder pattern.
29 Math Prep session 1 (In-school field trip) for Jefferson County teachers– location TBA

February
20 English Prep session 3 for Jefferson County and Birmingham City at UAB
27 Math Prep session 2 for Jefferson County and Birmingham City – location TBA

March
13 – 21 SPRING BREAK for ALL
23 Vertical Team meeting 4 at Shades Valley High School 4-6
27 Science Prep session 2 for Jefferson County and Birmingham City at UAB

April
24 Science Prep session 3 for Jefferson County and Birmingham City at UAB

May
1 Math Prep session 3 for Jefferson County and Birmingham City – location TBA
3-14 AP Exams administered