Teacher of the Year

The 2011-2012 School year winners were:

 

Kris Green Manzanita Elementary Multi-Age Teacher		Lindy Bowden Canyon View Elementary

The 2010-2011 School year winners were:

Elizabeth Pagels Manzanita Elementary Fifth Grade Teacher		Pat Burrows Esperero Canyon Middle School Eighth Grade Teacher

The 2007-2008 School year winner was:

In May 2007, the Catalina Foothills’ Teacher of the Year (TOY) program began as a district parent, Nanci Berens, had an idea to celebrate the amazing teachers in our schools. Nanci met with the outgoing Foundation president, John Hicks, to get initial approval and followed up with a proposal to the Superintendent, Mary Kamerzall, who approved the program. Dr. Kamerzall made clear from the outset that some restrictions would be made about what information could be disclosed, as there could be district related personnel matters that are not for public consumption. Based on the Superintendent’s directive, the Chairs understood the need for a high level of integrity in the design of the program and the need to entrust the TOY Chairs with maintaining confidentially throughout the whole process. The other stipulation would be, with the principal’s approval, how presentations will be handled at individual school sites. An additional component, included in the teacher application process, is to obtain the signature of the site principal before submitting the application. 

A committee of three (Nanci Berens, Nancy Heiser and Lisa Millerd) was formed to delineate the process, solicit support from the CFSD Foundation and find possible sponsors to support the program. Over the summer, the various aspects of the selection process came together which included three parts: nominations of teachers, teacher’s completing applications and selection of the Teachers of the Year. The committee researched other districts, perused the process used by Arizona to choose a State TOY and conferred with other pertinent sources about the details. Through a rigorous development process including multiple planning sessions, the first TOY program was ready to launch with the intention of being free of bias while celebrating our outstanding teachers. As school began in 2007, the district signed off on the process; the CFSD Foundation was presented with the program and it was approved. A timeline was developed to accommodate all the components culminating in the announcement of the TOY at their school site. Each FFO contributes $100 to support the program. (See attached nomination form)

The first year (2007-08) ran very smoothly with the selection of a high school social studies teacher, Dave Mason, as the TOY. There were 81 separate nominations from students and parents. A total of 38 teachers were given TOY applications based on the nominations, and 16 completed this part of the process. An eleven-member school representative selection committee, representing all the schools plus 2 administrators, narrowed this field of candidates down to five teachers. They used a rubric scoring system to evaluate the written applications. Then these five teachers were interviewed by three community members using a set of interview questions with a rubric for scoring. 

As the co-chairs for Love Our Schools in 2007-08, Nanci and Nancy decided it was a great opportunity to present the Teacher of the Year at the Gala. Having the TOY presentation as a part of LOS, would give a renewed purpose for parents to attend the event. They received Foundation Board approval, as having TOY showcased at the LOS event would bring both added acknowledgement of the Foundation’s support of teachers and more recognition for the Foundation’s mission to bring in funding as a continued financial support of the district. The Gala was a huge success.

The next step was initial evaluation of the program. In the spring of 2008, the chairs solicited information from all the participants, both teachers and committee members. Based on this feedback, the chairs recommended adding a second TOY representing the district more fully. It became prudent to highlight the outstanding contributions and recognize the elementary and secondary teachers’ accomplishments thus having a teacher from each level, was a welcome addition to the program. Other factors contributing to adding a second TOY: other districts select multiple TOYs, it allows more opportunities to showcase CFSD teachers each year, and it would allow and encourage multiple applicants to apply to the State TOY program. 

For the next two years (2008-09 and 2009-10) the program ran smoothly with no perceptible changes. The only major change was to add a release on the teacher’s application to be signed by the applicant to protect the privacy requests of teachers. There is no release of information unless permission has been given as per the initial instructions of the Superintendent and to respect individual teachers’ right to privacy. 

This year (2010-11) will see one final change. After evaluating the past two years of the program with feedback from all the participants and dialogue with State TOY representatives, it is recommended to use the same process as before but select ten (10) “Distinguished Educators” with no differentiation of grade levels, and have this pool go through the interview process as a group with two (2) TOYs selected. This will bring full equity to the program as the final selection will be determined by a committee, which includes community members, with the addition of the previous year’s TOYs and a CFSD alumnus.