Our Golden Apple winner at Belforest Elementary wrote the book on being a 'School Mom'

Daphne, Ala. (WKRG) -- Erica Evans has been teaching for 22 years--most of that time has been spent teaching kindergartners. 

"It's a God gift and I don't take it lightly--raising all these babies," she said.

She does take her job at Belforest Elementary in Daphne seriously for both her students and their parents.

Evans said, "You know they're new coming to school, and a lot of the time they've never been around any other people other than just their families. So you're kind of the first person outside of their families that the families get to trust--so it's kind of like, what do you guys call me, I'm your school what?  Mom---Mom."

It's a role she takes so seriously in fact she wrote a book about it---called, you guessed it, 'School Mom.' And her nominators also recognize how important it is to have someone they can trust for several hours a day with their children.

"She really is their school mom and she makes them each feel so special," said parent and nominator Allison Oakes.

Tara Orr added, "She's phenomenal--it's not a career for her, it's her passion.  She even came to the boys' baseball games and took time out of her busy schedule and that just means the world to these kids."

I asked young Carson Orr what he thought.
"You like her?"
"Yes, she's the best teacher we could possibly have," said Carson.

Our congratulations to Erica Evans and Belforest Elementary for a job well