Gwinnett science educator is top teacher

An elementary school science teacher has earned Gwinnett County Public Schools’ top honor.

Doug Doblar, of Head Elementary School, is Teacher of the Year for 2018. Doblar was selected out of an initial pool of 138 that was narrowed down to six finalists.

Of those finalists, Cheri Nations, a North Gwinnett Middle School STEM teacher, was named Middle School Teacher of the Year, and Amy Crisp, a Norcross High School English to Speakers of Other Languages teacher, was named High School Teacher of the Year. Doblar also received the honor of Elementary School Teacher of the Year.

Doblar will receive an annual award of $1,000 for as long as he is employed with the district, as well as the use of a new car for a year, a crystal peach, a $500 grocery store gift card, a commemorative ring, a laptop and a gift basket. Crisp and Nations will receive $750 annual awards for the rest of their time working in the district. The three other finalists —Ebony Flott, John Chvatal and Michelle E. Jones — will receive one-time awards of $500.

All five finalists will receive $250 grocery store gift cards in addition to their monetary awards. The 132 local winners will receive $200 each.

Doblar has been an educator for 15 years and has taught at levels from kindergarten to college. He began as a long-term substitute teacher at the high school level and got his first full-time teaching job at the middle school level, according to a Gwinnett County Public Schools release. While earning his PhD in instructional technology at Indiana University, Doblar also worked as an instructor at the collegiate level, teaching education students.

Doblar returned to Gwinnett County schools as a technology coordinator after receiving his doctoral degree. In 2015, he began his current position at Head Elementary School, the school he attended as a child, the district said.

Engaging students in class is one of Doblar’s key goals, he said.

“It has been my experience that when learning isn’t genuinely engaging for students, they either ignore it or endure it,” Doblar said in a district release. “The single most inspiring difference in the teachers I admire is the engagement of their students— they love coming to school, never want to leave, and achieve beyond what they ever have as a result.”

Doug Doblar