Williams Elementary Principal Earns After School Award
By Space Coast Daily // October 13, 2012
Florida After School Alliance Honors Ford
BREVARD COUNTY • ROCKLEDGE, FLORIDA – Cynthia Ford, the principal of Ralph M. Williams, Jr. Elementary School in Rockledge, has received the 2012 Award of Excellence in the Administrator category from the Florida After School Alliance.
This award is presented annually to an administrator who has embraced and supported the after school program at his or her school.
FASA accepts nominations statewide for their annual Awards of Excellence, in seven different categories: Front Line; Supervisor – Single Site; Supervisor – Multi – Site; Administrator / Central Office / Agency; Advocacy; Volunteer and Public Official.
Two individuals from Brevard Public Schools were nominated by Joanne Swinkel, SACC Program Development Coordinator, for the FASA Awards of Excellence; Ford for theAdministrator category, and Teresa Rider, School Age Child Care (SACC) Coordinator at Pinewood for her role as Supervisor-Single Site.
In Swinkel’s nomination letter, she writes, “Cynthia Ford is an outstanding example of what a before and after school program advocate should be. She has embraced the School Age Child Care program at Ralph M. Williams, Jr. Elementary School in ways that show her unrelenting support, not only for all students and families attending the school, but specifically the students that participate in the School Age Child Care program. The relationship she fosters exemplifies the reason we are nominating her for the FASA “2012 Award of Excellence” – Administrator category.
Ford began her career with BPS in 1974 in the Exceptional Student Education department first as a staffing specialist, later a Regional Diagnostic and Resource Center coordinator and director of admissions. In 1989, Ford became principal of Central and South Pine Grove schools, and was also assigned Normandy and the Brevard Juvenile Detention Center (itinerant principal- four schools). She later transferred to Andersen Elementary in 1993, and was appointed as the inaugural principal of the newly built Ralph M. Williams, Jr. Elementary School in 1999.
Ford was selected as the statewide winner in the Administrator category and presented with the 2012 FASA Award of Excellence on Friday, October 5, at the FASA Awards Luncheon, which was held at the Marriott World Center in Orlando.
The selection of Ford for the 2012 award makes it the third consecutive year that a principal from BPS has won state wide recognition for his or her dedication to the School Age Child Care program at their school. Dr. Pamella O’Kell, principal of Apollo Elementary School, was the 2011 Award of Excellence recipient, and Hilah Mercer, principal of Cambridge Elementary School, was the 2010 Award of Excellence recipient.
For more information about the FASA award, call Debi Embry, District Coordinator School Age Child Care at 321-633-1000, ext. 357.
Thanks for sharing this information. I have been seeing that the elementary school awards are being given out to great students.