The Bold Goals Coalition’s Education Steering Committee welcomed Dr. Melissa Shields, a widely-respected partner and expert among schools and school systems statewide, as its new co-chair earlier this week. Dr. Shields joins Bill Jones, who is continuing to serve as co-chair, and she succeeds Dr. Phil Hammonds, who completed his term in October.
We recently honored Dr. Hammonds for his remarkable service to Bold Goals Education at the Bold Goals Community Lab event. Dr. Hammonds was instrumental in building relationships crucial to the success of Bold Goals Education, including those with the Alabama State Department of Education, local school systems, professional associations and many other partners. All of us benefitted from his guidance, collegiality and wisdom.
Dr. Shields is a lifelong educator and education leader in Alabama. Before moving into an administrative role in 2007, she taught middle school and high school English language arts for 16 years and earned National Board Certification in 2000. At the system level in Etowah County Schools, she supervised departments including Secondary Curriculum, Instructional Technology, Library Media, School Improvement and English Learners. In 2015, she moved to the Alabama Department of Education in the Office of Student Learning. She currently serves as a Regional Support Coordinator for central and northern Alabama, assisting schools and systems in their school improvement efforts.
Dr. Shields has presented and delivered keynote addresses at many local, state and national conferences and works with community and industry organizations in aligning resources and human capital with specific needs in area schools.
She also has the rare distinction of having participated in every Bold Goals Education action network during the past several years and has served on the Education Steering Committee for the past four years. She brings excellent collaborative leadership skills, relationships and a wealth of knowledge to the role of co-chair, and we hope you will join us in welcoming her in this capacity.
The Bold Goals Coalition is 200 organizations solving big community problems by aligning partners, resources and agendas.