2 Honored at Achievement Academy
Capital City Today
Achievement Academy Honors Staff Members
Achievement Academy staff members were honored by their colleagues Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
Laura Beard, Pre-K ESE teacher in Lakeland, was honored as Teacher of the Year. Beard has been a teacher for 14 years, the past eight years employed at the Achievement Academy. Her classroom consists of ten students and two paraprofessionals. The small classroom size is important, as a large number of her students are considered medically fragile. Beard’s classroom is filled with laughter, joyful interactions, and just plain fun. Learning is disguised as fun and her students benefit from her expertise and experience.
Laurie Turner, RN was honored as Support Person of the Year. Turner has been employed with Achievement Academy since 1997. Turner monitors students’ health needs, verifies medications, and checks daily medication logs. She is passionate about providing health education to parents/guardians and staff regarding the needs of the children with special needs. The success of Achievement Academy reopening and remaining open during the Covid-19 pandemic is due in large part to Turner.
We are truly fortunate to have both of these professionals on staff at Achievement Academy.
About the Achievement Academy
The Achievement Academy serves children from birth through age five with various developmental delays and disabilities. The Achievement Academy offers two programs, each provided at no cost to the child or family. The first program is a Charter School that offers specialized instruction by certified teachers; small class sizes; individual speech, occupational and physical therapies; and assistive technologies that enable each student to reach his or her full potential at one of the Achievement Academy’s three campus locations (Lakeland, Winter Haven and Bartow). The second is a Birth to Three Program that provides early intervention services to infants and toddlers who are “at-risk” for developmental delays and/or have been identified with a specific delay. Professional Early Interventionists serve these children and their families.