A public school teacher from California, Colorado, Connecticut or North Carolina will be selected this year as the 59th recipient of the nation's top teaching honor-National Teacher of the Year-according to Gene
Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers
"The Council is honored to present these four national finalists as representative of the great teaching that goes on in America's classrooms each and every day," said Wilhoit. "We at CCSSO know that the responsibility of ensuring student learning falls squarely on the shoulders of the teacher and any of these four finalists will ably carry the message of learning to the American people as the 2009 National Teacher of the Year."
The four finalists for 2009 are listed below:
Alex Kajitani, 2009 California Teacher of the Year, is an eighth grade mathematics teacher at Mission Middle School in Escondido, California. He has taught a total of nine years and been an educator at Mission, a school of 1,021 students, for four years.
Susan Elliott, 2009 Colorado Teacher of the Year, is a ninth through twelfth grade English and social studies teacher at Highlands Ranch High School in Highland Ranch, Colorado. She has taught for 31 years, the last six at Highlands Ranch High School which has 1,690 students.
Anthony Mullen, 2009 Connecticut Teacher of the Year, is a ninth through twelfth grade special education teacher at ARCH School in Greenwich, Connecticut. He has taught at this school of 35 students for six of his seven of his years in the education profession.
Cynthia Cole Rigsbee, 2009 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, is a sixth through eighth grade reading teacher at Gravelly Hill Middle School in Efland, North Carolina. She has been an educator at Gravelly Hill, a school of 470 students, for the past three of her 21 years serving as a teacher.
A panel of educators, representing the 15 largest national education organizations, chose the finalists from the 2009 teachers of the year representing the U.S. states, three U.S. extra-state territories, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity, and will select the 2009 National Teacher of the Year. Recognition by President Barack Obama of the national honoree and the state representatives is tentatively scheduled to take place during the week of April 27-May 1, 2009.
Becoming an NSTOY State Chapter doesn't mean more work. It means another RESOURCE for you, TOYs and coordinators.
TOYs, contact your coordinator and see if there is a way to get her or him to come along to Maine for the 2009 NSTOY Conference. We know money is tight, but there may be a way. Coordinators can fill out a TOY Conference registration with adaptations to fit their needs.
Coordinators, this is an opportunity to continue your networking with other coordinators you started in Dallas. Remember, families are welcome. There is something for everybody. (And if you want to get started on forming a state chapter now, contact me and I'll get the packet to you. It's as easy as 1,2,3)
Joan Brummond 1st Vice President, NSTOY email: joanleeb@aol.com phone: 970-221-1304
