GaFCP Board Member Garry McGiboney Earns School Social Workers Assn.‘s Friend of Children Award
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The School Social Workers Association of Georgia last week presented its most coveted award—Friend of Children Award—to Dr. Garry McGiboney, a Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) Board member and associate superintendent for Policy & External Affairs at the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE).
This is an award presented to an administrator or community leader who has:
- supported and advocated for school social work services;
- been involved in developing innovative programs to enhance the delivery of services to students and families in a school or community environment; and
- been actively involved in a civic or youth organization or Board that positively impacts students and families.
The prestige of the Friend of Children Award is that it is not awarded on an annual basis. It is awarded when a person’s work positively impacts children.
“This award means a lot to me because I have the greatest respect and admiration for social workers,” said McGiboney. “They have a very difficult job and they work tirelessly with children and families every day, offering assistance and support.”
McGiboney, who also was recently inducted into the Georgia Board of Regents Alumni Hall of Fame for his career-long efforts on behalf of children, has more than 30 years’ experience in public education, serving in several school- and district-level positions. He has a Ph.D. in both school psychology and administration from Georgia State University and is a state certified psychologist and a state certified mediator. In addition to GaFCP’s Board, he also serves on the Georgia Chapter of Mental Health of America and DeKalb Community Service boards. The governor appointed McGiboney to serve on the Joint Study on Mental Health Access, and the Georgia Supreme Court appointed him to serve on its Committee on Justice for Children.
The author of three books—The Private Side of a Public Education, Research on Student Relations and Discipline, and the recently published Lessons for Leaders and Governing Boards—McGiboney also has written guest columns for parenting magazines; has been interviewed by CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, and other regional and local television and radio affiliates. He was recently featured in a bullying awareness program for children on the Nickelodeon Network and on an A&E television special on school violence, and he appeared in a United States Dept. of Education video production of “Emergency Preparedness for Families” that was broadcast on PBS, the Discovery Channel, and The Learning Channel, as well as on local public school system access channels.
Bill Valladares
GaFCP Communications Director
404-527-7394 (x113)
william@gafcp.org