Kristi Luffman Gaddis has received the North Carolina Department of Instruction’s 2012 Exceptional Teacher of Excellence Award for Yadkin County Schools.
Gaddis is National Board Certified in Special Education, holds a master’s of teaching in special education from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, and earned a master’s in school administration from Appalachian State University.
Gaddis is currently the lead teacher and chair of the Special Education Department at Starmount High School, she has served students with disabilities for eleven years under the following teaching and administration licenses: EC general curriculum (Birth-21), high school English (9-12), EC math (K-12), EC science (K-12), EC English (K-12), EC social studies (K-12), and school administration.
As the Credit Recovery Coordinator for Starmount High School since 2007, her role in raising the graduation rate from 77.2 percent that year to its peak of 86.2 percent in 2011 has been integral. Refusing to accept a lack of funding as a limitation to instruction, Gaddis applied her resourcefulness to win the Bright Ideas grant in 2007 and used the award money to purchase computers for her students.
She has developed and implemented Starmount’s remediation program and teacher recognition program (Stars of Excellence). She plays an essential role in the Occupational Course of Study program—a path to graduation and participation for students with disabilities that is indispensable to its participants and their community.
Gaddis was the honored recipient of the Mountain Valley Conference Track Coach of the Year award for the years of 2008, 2009, and 2010. She is also the loving wife and mother to her husband Taylor and son Wyatt.
As the district’s EC Teacher of Excellence, Kristi Luffman Gaddis will be recognized at the North Carolina Department of Public Education’s EC Division’s 62nd Conference on Exceptional Children at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro held November 14-16.
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