Phil Pickens Awards

Karen Tharpe who serves as the Parent Mentor for Appling County Schools has been a leader in the GaPMP for several years. She was the chair of the Leadership Council and now serves as this year’s Phil Pickens Committee Chair.

And the nominees are… to be announced during our Kickoff!

The Phil Pickens Leadership Award is a statewide honor recognizing outstanding leadership in the collaborative work between home, school and community to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, outstanding contributions to the Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership program, and consistent outstanding leadership accomplishments in special education.

Phil Pickens

The award is named after the founder of the Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership, Mr. Phil Pickens. The late Mr. Pickens is a former Department of Education Special Education Director who dedicated more than 35 years to improving the education of children with disabilities.    

Presenting the Phil Pickens Leadership Awards Recipients 

2005 Phil Pickens

2006   Ms. Clemene Ramsey  Fayette County Schools SPED Director

2007   Dr. Julie Moilanen Grady County Schools SPED Director

2008  Mike Blake  Clarke County Schools and Scott Crain Hall County  Parent Mentor

2009  Dr. Mikki Garcia  Chatham County Schools and Ginger Henderson Meriwether County Parent Mentor

2010  Dr. Sue Carter Walton County SPED and Tracy Barber Seminole County Parent Mentor

2011  Joellen Harden Dodge County SPED and Kim Chester Bartow County Parent Mentor

2012  Joan Baird Madison County SPED and Pam Moore Madison County Parent Mentor

2013  Jennifer Mellor Jones County SPED and Teresa Johnson Walton County Parent Mentor

2014  Ann Cross Gordon County SPED and Carol Smith Candler County Parent Mentor

2015 Andrea Pender Barrow County SPED and April Lee Wayne County Parent Mentor

2016 Sandy Malone Seminole County SPED *parent mentor (tie)  Edith Abakare, Atlanta City AND Lisa Vaughn, Liberty County

2017 Dr. Mary Kay Berry White County SPED and Jackie McNair Gwinnett County Parent Mentor

2018 Heidi Hill Clarke County SPED and JoEllen Hancock Cherokee County Parent Mentor

2019 Audrey Walters Montgomery County SPED and Juliet Hardeman Chatham County Parent Mentor

2020 Tania Amerson Bartow County SPED and Amanda Locke Evans County Parent Mentor

2021 Angie Ingram Walker County SPED and Erin Arledge Whitfield County Parent Mentor

2022 Alecia Segursky Gordon County SPED and Jane Grillo White County Parent Mentor