- May 2, 2024
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Teacher Doug Glasco remembers when Bunnell Elementary School Teacher of the Year Melissa Atkinson-Brock was assigned an overwhelming number of students who needed multiple continuums of support.
"Without hesitation," Glasco wrote in a letter of recommendation for Atkinson-Broc's Teacher of the Year application, "Melissa said, "'Well, it doesn't matter. They're with Mrs. Brock now and we are going to teach every single one of them!'"
It is not what I taught them, it is how I made them feel that is what they remember."
— MELISSA ATKINSON-BROCK, Bunnell Elementary School Teacher of the Year
Atkinson-Brock began working for Flagler Schools in 1992 as a substitute teacher and was hired as a teacher at Buddy Taylor Middle School in 1993. She taught at Wadsworth Elementary in 2007-2008 before shifting to Bunnell Elementary in 2008.
She enjoys teaching children who have learning difficulties. So, after teaching general education for 30 years, Atkinson-Brock this year became an Exceptional Support Education Support Facilitator, working to make sure student's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals are met.
"I am not a teacher who worries about the perfect test score. It is not what I taught them, it is how I made them feel that is what they remember," Atkinson-Brock wrote in her Teacher of the Year application.
Glasco recalls Atkinson-Brock's kindness toward children.
"She's delivered food to those in need during the holidays, gave up a jacket to warm a student on a cold winter day, or provided her office as a place of refuge for students who go through more than any one child should ever have to experience," he wrote. "Time and time again, Melissa puts those she loves and her students ahead of her own personal needs.
Time and time again, Melissa puts those she loves and her students ahead of her own personal needs."
— DOUG GLASCO, teacher
And Atkinson-Brock's instruction is "top tier," Bunnell Elementary School Assistant Principal Cari Elizabeth McGee wrote in a letter of recommendation for Atkinson-Brock.
"She is attentive to students' vast needs and provides differentiated instruction with careful attention to relevance and relatability," McGee wrote. "She is able to connect with our diverse student body, and has that magical ability to create relationships with students where they do not want to let her down. She loves them, and they love her."
Atkinson-Brock has also served as a grade-level chairperson, a PTO committee member and a peer mentor for many educators as well as on book adoption committees and science, math, and social studies curriculum mapping groups.
"I have never taken any of these jobs lightly. ... While some of these roles affected students directly, others affected education in a more general way," she wrote. "No matter what effect these roles had, they all played a part in enhancing education and the lives of students. Serving Flagler County is very dear to me as students and education have been a major part of my life.
