Sandy Springs Rotary Club recognizes top teachers at annual banquet

Principals and teachers from each of the 10 public schools in Sandy Springs celebrated improving student outcomes and making post-pandemic progress on May 11 at the Rotary Club’s annual Teacher Appreciation banquet.

For more than a decade, the Rotary Club of Sandy Springs has done something special to recognize some of the top educators in the city’s public schools toward the end of the academic year.

Megan Harris, president of the Sandy Springs Rotary Club and active community volunteer, said educators don’t have an easy job and thanked principals for finding the classroom instructors who make a difference.

“It takes a keen eye and leadership to identify someone that you can trust,” Harris said. “Sometimes it’s very hard during the school year to express some of the needs that you may have.”

Teacher Appreciation banquet

The Sandy Springs Rotary Club’s annual Teacher Appreciation banquet at the Wyndham Atlanta Perimeter hotel off Peachtree Dunwoody Road allowed each principal to brag on the top, teacher-nominated educator from their school.

Public school students in Sandy Springs follow two feeder patterns from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The North Springs cluster is STEAM-oriented, with the high school focused on becoming the first in the state to be officially certified. The Riverwood cluster offers International Baccalaureate middle school and high school diploma programs.

Lake Forest and High Point Elementary, and almost all students from Heards Ferry Elementary, move onto Ridgeview Middle School, along with 20 percent of students from Woodland. After eighth grade, students attend high school at Riverwood International Charter School in southern Sandy Springs.

Ison Springs and Dunwoody Springs Elementary, and 80 percent of students from Woodland Elementary School, attend Sandy Springs Middle. Those students then attend North Springs Charter High School between Roswell Road and SR 400.

The Teacher of the Year nominees from the city’s two middle schools are Ridgeview’s Steven Sanders and Sandy Springs Middle’s Jasmine Torres.

Ridgeview Principal Thomas Garrett said Sanders, the only physical education teacher to receive school-wide honors, spends about 12 hours a day at the school, dedicated to developing student athletes.

Sandy Springs Middle Principal Laurie Woodruff said Torres infuses positivity into English and language arts instruction with seventh- and eighth-grade talented and gifted (TAG) students.

Celebrating Sandy Springs teachers

Principals discuss student progress

Rough Draft Atlanta asked the room of principals and teachers how the city’s public schools are operating after the closure of Spalding Drive, and whether students have closed the achievement gap.

Off the record, one principal said chronic absenteeism at her school is affecting student development. The veteran principal said Fulton County Schools’ emphasis on Tier 1 core instruction helped the district reach its all-time high graduation rate of 91.9% last year.

However, a chunk of students continue to miss more than two days of school a month. While they may be graduating, the principal said she thinks reduced engagement impacts long-term success.

Janet Arias, former Spalding Drive vice principal who is now serving in the same role at Heards Ferry, said students, teachers, and administrators are finding their new homes. She said it’s been positive for most students.

The Sandy Springs Education Force’s Reading Buddies program got a shoutout from several school leaders.

Ison Springs Elementary Principal Lakasha Lee said her school has more than doubled the percentage of students reading on or above grade level since returning to in-person instruction.

Lake Forest Principal Jennifer Rosenthall, who moved from Spalding Drive Elementary at the start of the 2025-26 school year, said she’s been checking on her former students.

“I think change is really hard, but kids are a lot more resilient than the adults are sometimes,” Rosenthall said.