ATLANTA — Some retired educators never lose a love of teaching. Years after retiring, and becoming Georgia's First Lady, Sandra Deal has reached a major milestone - one that seems to show she's one of them.
Deal recently completed her 900th school visit since Nathan Deal took office as governor in 2011. That visit was to Rowland Elementary School in Stone Mountain.
Having taught for 15 years in Georgia schools, Deal is now a co-chair of the Georgia Literacy Commission and has also played a major role in the "Read Across Georgia" initiative where she often spent time visiting schools across the state reading to students.
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"I’m a teacher and a mama and a grandmama and I just have to encourage them," Deal said while riding on I-75 from Atlanta to Macon enroute to her 850th school. "You can tell, when you're around a group of children, which ones were read to and talked to and which ones were not."
Sandra launched the initiative to support her husband's goal of increasing the percentage of children reading at grade level. She also asked that parents get involved as well.
“Parental activities as simple as reading stories aloud to young children can greatly improve and enhance our students’ reading and literacy skills,” said First Lady Deal.
The visits have shown the former teacher the full spectrum of schools across the state as well.
"I’ve visited some really good schools and some that were not quite so good," Mrs. Deal said. "A lot of children live in substandard housing, violent areas. They don’t get enough sleep. And they don’t get enough food. And it’s a shame in a country like this."
She added that it's hard to recruit teachers to neighborhoods like that.
The 900th school visit comes just months after another major milestone for Sandra Deal in the very same year - finishing her last radiation session for a breast cancer diagnosis earlier in the year.
“Since I caught it in its early stages, I am confident that the chemotherapy will yield successful results," she said. "In light of this, I encourage all women to be proactive about their health and see a medical professional for an annual mammogram."
