Ivory Brown is the Effingham County School District Teacher of the Year for the 2024-2025 school year. She serves as a self-contained adaptive teacher for grades 6-8 at Ebenezer Middle School in Effingham County. A graduate of Jenkins County High School in Millen, GA, she earned a Bachelor of Education in Special Education from Georgia Southern University, a Master’s in Teaching Skills and Methodologies, and an Education Specialist degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Cambridge College. With 18 years of teaching experience, Mrs. Brown has consistently demonstrated a deep commitment to her students’ success and growth.
Mrs. Brown has made Effingham County her home and is a proud community servant. She is a 2019 graduate of the Effingham County Schools Aspiring Leaders program and has continued to grow as a leader in both her professional and community roles. She has served as the Executive Secretary for the United Way Young Leaders and is a 2021 graduate of the United Way Board Readiness Program. Mrs. Brown is also an active volunteer with the Effingham County Parent University and the Effingham County MLK Education Committee. Additionally, she serves as the Education Committee Chair for her civic organization, is a member of the National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference Planning Committee, and contributes to the Georgia Southern EdCamp Organizing Committee.
At Ebenezer Middle School, Mrs. Brown is the Teacher Advisor for the Best Buddies Program, which currently has 92 members who meet monthly, participate in community activities, and spread the message of inclusion. Under her leadership, the program has earned recognition as an Outstanding Best Buddies Chapter, and Mrs. Brown was honored by Best Buddies of Georgia as a Champion of the Year. Her dedication to promoting inclusion in education and the community is evident.
As the 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year at Ebenezer Middle School, Mrs. Brown is dedicated to empowering students through personalized, dynamic learning experiences. She has been recognized with the inaugural Effingham County School District Diversity Award and named a WTOC Top Teacher.
Mrs. Brown’s educational philosophy focuses on creating opportunities for growth and fostering a sense of belonging in her classroom and beyond. She is deeply committed to making a lasting impact on both her students and the wider Effingham County community.
Molly Lieberman is the Founder and Executive Director of Loop It Up Savannah, a community arts and education non-profit which provides art, literacy, STEAM, yoga and mindfulness, gardening, cooking and other enrichment workshops and experiences to children throughout Chatham County, as well as several other counties throughout Georgia and South Carolina. Loop It Up began in 2008 as an afterschool knitting and crochet program at the West Broad Street YMCA and became a non-profit organization in 2015.
Loop It Up programs give young people opportunities to explore and express who they are, both as individuals and members of a community while fostering strong relationships, and building sustainable and interconnected communities where everyday needs are met with creativity and confidence. Loop It Up programs also give students opportunities to participate in a variety of creative and hands-on activities, which engage their academic knowledge, while accelerating learning through standards based arts integrated curriculum that nurtures and supports the whole child. Through partnerships with the Savannah Chatham County Public School System, the City of Savannah, Chatham County and many non-profits and school systems, Loop It Up Savannah provides programming at over 40 locations and to over 12,000 students each year.
Molly grew up in Northampton Massachusetts and moved to Savannah in 2006. When not busy with Loop It Up, she enjoys reading as well as cooking, knitting and sewing special things for friends and family, and supporting Savannah’s many excellent non-profits.
Dr. Denise Watts is a passionate and committed education professional, practitioner, and consultant. Her experience and track record as a leader at the school and district level has focused on significantly improving the quality and culture of education for school-age children, especially those in traditionally underserved communities.
Watts’ 20+ year career has focused on serving children. As a teacher, athletic coach and principal and school district leader, and now Superintendent, she has demonstrated an unrelenting dedication to cultivating the conditions in which children can maximize their limitless potential in school and in life.
Denise Watts served as Chief of Schools in the Houston Independent School District, serving over 194,000 students in 274 schools. She was involved with principal supervision, magnet schools and innovation and strategy. Prior to this, she was the Chief of District Support for the University of Virginia’s Partnership for Leaders in Education. In this role, she worked to assist school districts from around the country in efforts to improve student outcomes through innovation and best practice.
Formally, Watts was employed by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as the leader of Project L.I.F.T. (Leadership and Investment for Transformation), a philanthropic initiative composed of leaders from Charlotte’s largest community and family foundations aiming to accelerate student achievement in up to 29 schools serving the district’s most educational and economically disadvantaged students. Under the leadership of Dr. Watts, Project L.I.F.T. schools were among the first in the nation to implement Opportunity Culture, a model that leverages district support systems to re-design career pathways and compensation to extend the reach of excellent teachers to more students within budget. This strategy yielded a positive impact on student achievement as well as the recruitment, retention, and development of teachers in Project L.I.F.T. schools. It is now being replicated in CMS and over 20 districts across the country.
In her career trajectory, Dr. Watts was recognized for her leadership as North Carolina’s NASSP Middle Level Principal of the Year in 2008. In her first year as a principal, she led Mint Hill Middle School to be a National School to Watch. In 2019, she was also tapped for Strategic Staffing, CMS’s nationally recognized turnaround initiative that placed top leaders and teachers in its most challenging schools.
Dr. Denise Watts began her new journey here in Savannah, Georgia when she became the Superintendent of the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System in July 2023.