Teacher Of The Year Nominees Announced
The McDonald County 2018 Teacher of the Year nominees have been selected, and a winner will be chosen soon.
The McDonald County 2018 Teacher of the Year nominees have been selected, and a winner will be chosen soon.
A nominee is chosen by teachers from each school in the district, and a committee chooses the winner based on an application that the nominees fill out.
McDonald County High School teachers nominated Robert Hall their teacher of the year. He has been teaching agriculture education for 22 years, with 15 of those being at McDonald County High School.
He said, “I was surprised, humbled and honored to be chosen MCHS teacher of the year.”
At Southwest City Elementary, Felicia Stites was nominated for teacher of the year. She has been teaching first grade for seven years at Southwest City Elementary.
She said, “I feel very honored and blessed to have been nominated by my colleagues.”
Heath Alumbaugh has the honor of representing Anderson Middle School as the teacher of the year nominee. He has been a special education co-teacher for three years.
“I feel it is a great honor to be nominated by my peers for teacher of the year. Our co-workers are the ones that truly know us best as educators, so I could not be more humbled to be picked by them,” he said.
At Noel Primary School, Amanda Forbes was nominated for teacher of the year. She teaches kindergarten through second grade special education and has been teaching for three years.
“I feel excited that I have been chosen to represent my school for teacher of the year,” she said. “I actually lived in Noel while attending and graduating McDonald County High School and now I get to teach there. I am glad that I can continue to provide to my community and hope that my students will one day do the same.”
Pineville Primary teachers nominated Heather Brody their teacher of the year. She is a special-education teacher and a speech implementer in her fourth year of teaching.
“I was overwhelmingly surprised and proud of myself and my students when I learned of my nomination. It is a very special feeling to be recognized among a group of teachers whom I greatly respect,” she said.
Joy Shephard will represent White Rock Elementary as the teacher of the year nominee. She is a special-education teacher in her first year of teaching.
“I think it’s a great honor as a first-year teacher and a special-education teacher for someone to see the hard work I put in with my students every day to help them be successful. I think it’s a great honor,” she said.
At Anderson Elementary, Jamie McAlister was nominated for teacher of the year. She works in the student support room. She has been the lead teacher in the student support room for the past two and a half years. Before that, she was a paraprofessional for seven years.
She said, “I was surprised to be nominated. There are a lot of amazing teachers at Anderson Elementary.”
Also nominated were Amber Gray of Noel Elementary and Lizzi Wilkinson of Rocky Comfort Elementary. These teachers could not be reached for comment by the McDonald County Press deadline.