Four Named Teacher Of The Year Finalists

Four teachers were named finalists to be next year’s Arkansas Teacher of the Year at the state capitol Monday. Ali Weimer knows what’s in store for the eventual winner.

Weimer, this year’s Teacher of the Year, announced the finalists during a ceremony that also honored the 16 regional finalists. The four finalists are:

– Johnathan Crossley, an 11th and 12th grade English teacher at Palestine Wheatley High School;
– Lisa Gray, a kindergarten through second grade literacy teacher at Fort Smith’s Sunnymede Elementary School
– Sue Johnston, who teaches first grade at Batesville’s Eagle Mountain Magnet School
– Debra Lamb, a 10th through 12th grade environmental and spatial technology teacher at Springdale’s Har-Ber High School

The 16 regional finalists each are receiving a $1,000 check from the Walton Family Foundation.

A committee will conduct site visits and interviews over the next two weeks. The winning teacher will be announced in a surprise event. He or she will receive a year of paid administrative leave to be an ambassador for teachers and for schools. The Teacher of the Year also receives a cash award of at least $14,000.

Weimer is a kindergarten teacher at Avondale Elementary School in the Marion School District. Her activities as Teacher of the Year include serving as a nonvoting member of the State Board of Education, encouraging civic organizations to be involved in their local schools, working with teacher training programs to encourage parental involvement, and serving on various committees.

“I think they are (listening),” she said of the policy makers with whom she interacts. “I think they are hearing me, and maybe we don’t see immediate action, but I think I’m planting the seeds. And I’m trying; I’m trying to speak for the teacher.”

Asked if it was harder for a kindergarten teacher to assume this role than a high school government teacher, Weimer said, “Well, it is a little different, and at first I was a little nervous about it. However, with the new priority of early childhood education, I see that I am fitting in that way.”

Weimer’s duties began July 1 and will continue through June 30, 2014. She said starting this school year out of the classroom “was very strange for me. My daughter started kindergarten this year, so going to open house as a parent and not a teacher was different. The first day of school when I dropped her off and didn’t have 20 little ones following me around was different, but I’m learning to look at it like this: In the classroom, I would have been able to influence 20 students. This year, I have the possibility to impact unlimited students.”

Weimer said she was reaching out to previous Teachers of the Year for help in their areas of expertise. Seven previous Teachers of the Year attended Monday’s announcement. While she looks forward to returning to the classroom, she thinks she will remain active in the policy making arena.

“I don’t think I will be done,” she said. “I think this has opened my eyes to a different side, and I will try to stay as active as I can and in balance.”