CCSD Teacher Honored as Region's Top Art Educator

A Cherokee County School District teacher has been honored as the region’s top art educator!

Hasty Elementary School Fine Arts Academy teacher Dr. Lisa Spence has earned the National Art Education Association’s Southeastern Region Elementary Art Educator Award.

The prestigious annual honor, selected through peer review, recognizes “exemplary contributions, service, and achievements” of one elementary school art educator in region, which includes 10 states as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  The award will be presented in March at the association’s 2025 National Convention in Louisville.

“There is no greater testament of Dr. Spence’s exemplary contributions to the field of visual arts education than being chosen for this prestigious award,” Mario R. Rossero, the association’s executive director, said in the announcement.  “Dr. Spence’s colleagues throughout the United States and abroad join the NAEA Board of Directors in applauding her leadership, commitment and service to the profession.”

This is the latest among many honors achieved by Dr. Spence, whose recent accolades include 2023 Georgia Elementary School Art Educator of the Year and 2022 Crayola Creativity Ambassador.  Dr. Spence, who joined CCSD in 2019, with her Hasty colleagues also achieved the Georgia Department of Education’s 2023 Creative School Arts Integration School of Excellence Award.

A member of the state and National Art Education Association, Dr. Spence is a national presenter and frequent recipient of competitive grants.  

She will be recognized by the Cherokee County School Board and Superintendent of Schools Mary Elizabeth Davis at this month’s School Board Meeting.

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