GEORGETOWN, ALPINE – A Georgetown, Texas elementary school named in honor of a former Alpine woman is one of the best in the school district and one of its teachers recently earned an education grant.
Ford Elementary was named in honor of Dr. Jo Ann Ford, an educator who served as principal of Carver, Pickett and Williams Elementary, and Benold Middle School before her retirement from the district in 2000.
Dr. Jo Ann Ford
She was widely respected for her dedication to children and to the community, where she helped start a public health clinic.
Dr. Ford often visited the children at her namesake school before she passed away in 2006.
The Ford family lived in Alpine in the mid-1960s when Mrs. Ford’s late husband was a Sul Ross State University administrator. They later moved to the Austin area.
In Alpine, Mrs. Ford was a Cub Scout den mother, taught swimming, and was active in the community and church. She later lost her sight but that never even slowed her down. A son, Bill, is a San Antonio attorney at law, and a son, Bobby, preceded her in death.
Ford has been a TEA Exemplary campus for the last five years and has been awarded six Gold Performance Awards.
The “prize patrol” for Georgetown Partners in Education last week made surprise visits to teachers who had won grants from the nonprofit group.
The group awarded $17,941 in 15 grants to teachers at 10 schools in the Georgetown school district. Jenny Yentzen, an art teacher at Ford Elementary, won a $528 grant to buy an iPad, which she said she would use to show her students images from art galleries.
“I’m so excited about winning I need to go run around on the playground,” she said.
The four-member prize patrol arrived at each school with red and white balloons and large cardboard checks for the teachers.
The Austin American-Statesman and Sentinel reporter Robert Halpern contributed to this report.