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BY ROBERT SORRELL
The Elizabethton City Schools recognized the teachers of the year at the September school board meeting.
Assistant Director of Schools for Academics Dr. Myra Newman presented certificates to the 2023-2024 teachers of the year on Sept. 24.
“We’re so excited to recognize our teachers who are selected by their peers as the teachers of the year in their building,” Newman told the board.
The goal is to recognize teachers for all of their hard work, Newman said.
Every year, staff members select teachers of the year in each school. Each winner is then asked to fill out additional paperwork and one is selected as the teacher of the year for the system at each level, Newman said. The system’s teachers of the year then compete at the state level.
Kindergarten to third grade teachers of the year include Teresa Dugger at Eastside Elementary School, Whitney Birchfield at Harold McCormick Elementary School and Victoria Nanney at Westside Elementary School.
“If you’ve ever been in a kindergarten, pre-k, through third grade classroom, you know what kind of rock stars these teachers are,” Newman said. “It’s amazing how they can take students that have never been in a structured setting and see how much they grow and learn.”
Fourth to eighth grade teachers of the year include Eastside’s Vickie Royston, Harold McCormick’s Carla Whiles, Westside’s Jason Baker and Collin McHenry at T.A. Dugger Junior High School.
Spanish teacher Andrew Bentley has been recognized as both the Elizabethton High School teacher of the year and the ninth to 12th grade teacher of the year for the system.
Birchfield was named the kindergarten to fourth grade teacher of the year for the system and Whiles was named the system’s fourth to eighth grade winner.
Last year, Elizabethton High School drama teacher Megan Foster became a statewide finalist.