School bus driver turned award-winning NC teacher is changing students’ lives
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Shane Henderson won the Milken Educator Award for achievement and promise.
- Henderson built ties with students and families, raising reading proficiency 16 points.
- Bus driver–turned teacher and mentor, he stays in Chatham County and leads peers.
Shane Henderson doesn’t stop being an award-winning teacher when class ends at Pittsboro Elementary School.
Henderson’s fourth-grade students are as likely to see their beloved teacher cheering them on at a weekend or after-school event as they are in the classroom. It’s this devotion to his students that helped Henderson recently win the Milken Educator Award, a national recognition that’s been called the “Oscars of Teaching” and comes with a $25,000 prize.
“He’s a phenomenal educator,” Pittsboro Elementary Principal Lemondrè Watson said in an interview. “If we had more educators like Mr. Henderson, then we’d have the best education system possible.”
Henderson is the 58th North Carolina educator to win the award since the state joined the program in 1994. Henderson is the only winner from the state this school year.
Henderson teaches at Pittsboro Elementary in Chatham County, about 30 miles west of Raleigh.
‘I’ll never forget where I came from’
The Milken Educator Award is the latest accolade for the homegrown Chatham County educator. He’s previously won school-level awards for bus driver of the year, beginning teacher of the year and teacher of the year.
Henderson, 35, grew up in Bear Creek in southwestern Chatham County. He attended Bonlee School and graduated from Chatham Central High School. Chatham County school board chair Gary Leonard was one of Henderson’s high school English teachers.
Henderson’s father is a maintenance technician for the school district.
Henderson initially started working part-time for the school district as a bus driver at Chatham Central High. He later became an instructional assistant — what used to be called a teacher’s assistant — at Pittsboro Elementary.
At the urging of kindergarten teacher Elizabeth Sturdivant, Henderson took a “leap of faith” and made the transition to becoming a teacher starting in 2019.
“It’s kind of like a full circle moment,” Henderson said in an interview. “Like seeing some of my former teachers, they’re now a colleague.”
Henderson is still certified to drive a school bus so he pitches in if a large number of drivers are out.
In Chatham County, many instructional assistants also serve as school bus drivers. Henderson drives the bus on his class field trips so that an instructional assistant doesn’t have to take on the additional driving duties.
“I’ll never forget where I came from,” Henderson said. “I’ve been that (instructional assistant) that’s worked all day. I’ve drove my route, and now I’ve got to go and drive a double route? So anytime that I can alleviate that off another IA, why not?”
Being a champion for students
Henderson’s educational focus is guided by the lesson he got as a beginning teacher about how every child deserves a champion — an adult who will never give up on them. Building relationships with students and their families and seeing that lightbulb moment when things click for a child is what makes his day.
“I enjoy being that champion for kids,” Henderson said. “Sometimes it may just be, ‘Hey, you can do this.’ And that may be the first time that they’ve heard it ever in their educational career, and that can make a whole shift in their trajectory in life.”
Building relationships can be as simple as Henderson inserting the names of his students into the word problems they do in class. But the bonding also extends to the time Henderson spends at his students’ events that take place outside school hours.
“Just going there, they see your face,” Henderson said. “They know I’m really invested in them, not only within the classroom, but I’m invested in the whole child, not just the academic part.”
Teacher ‘loves on his kids’
The relationship doesn’t end when they leave his class. Watson, the school principal, said Henderson still pops into a nearby middle school to check in on a former student when she let him know she’s having a bad day.
Watson said that student had the highest number of behavioral referrals in the building during her K-3 years. But she didn’t have any referrals when she was in Henderson’s fourth-grade class
“The way that he loves on his kids. I mean, it’s evident being in his room,” Watson said.
Henderson’s students have reciprocated by celebrating his birthday like a holiday. The students decorate the classroom and stock enough Sour Patch Kids to last Henderson for the rest of the year
“The way that they celebrated him, I had not seen that in any other classroom before,” Watson said. “I know that something’s going to happen this February as well, too. Just looking forward to what this class puts together.”
The relationship building is paying off academically. He recently led his fourth graders to a 16-point increase in reading proficiency, and his class achieved an overall passing rate of 75% on end-of-year assessments.
‘At home’ in Chatham County
The Milken Family Foundation says the recognition isn’t meant to be a lifetime achievement award. Instead, it recognizes early to mid-career teachers for what they have achieved and for the promise of what they will accomplish given the resources and opportunities afforded by the Award.
Henderson is already a leader at Pittsboro Elementary, He officially mentors only one beginning teacher. But Watson said other teachers seek Henderson out for advice.
“I am honored to be a part of his educational career,” Watson said. “It’s truly an honor to witness the things that take place in his classroom, to know him as a colleague, to know him as a person.”
In December, Henderson received his master’s degree in education in curriculum and instruction from UNC-Pembroke. In the future, Henderson is looking at becoming an instructional coach and possibly becoming a principal and working in central office.
Henderson would be in high demand after winning the Milken Award. But Henderson said he wants to stay in Chatham County, a small district that has around 8,600 students.
“Here I’m at home,” Henderson said. “Even my teammates, they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re the mayor. You know everyone.’ I’ve been here since I did kindergarten through 12th grade here in Chatham.”
