Awards

Excellence in Teaching

Gail Bettis

Gail Bettis was chosen as NC-CEC’s teacher of the year for 2006! She is from Cleveland County and was nominated by her principal, Dr. Nellie Aspel. Gail currently serves as Cleveland County School’s Community-based Coordinator from North Shelby High School (a special purpose school for students with disabilities) as well as Shelby High School, and has been in this position for the past 3 years.

Prior to this assignment, Gail was a teacher of high school students with mil/moderate mental disabilities for 12 years and a preschool teacher in early intervention for 8 years. In her role as Transition Teacher and Transition Coordinator, Ms. Bettis oversees transition planning, school-based and work-based vocational training, interagency coordination, and the Occupational Course of Study program.

Despite her numerous roles, she finds time to teach Occupational Preparation classes, to meet individually with students and their parents to prepare them for transition planning meetings, and to conduct staff development training for teachers. During the recent merger of this school system, Ms. Bettis has been invaluable in developing a policy and procedures transition handbook to help align transition services across all high schools.