It’s Time to Nominate a Great Educator to Be the Next Wicomico Teacher of the Year!
Celebrate a great teacher with a nomination for Wicomico Teacher of the Year! Nominations will be taken through Dec. 1 for the next Wicomico Teacher of the Year. Anyone in the community may seek recognition for an educator quickly and easily using the online nomination form. Access the nomination form through the school system’s website (www.wicomicoschools.org) or by using the link or QR code.
Teacher of the Year nomination link
Teacher of the Year nomination form in Spanish
Teacher of the Year nomination form in Haitian Creole
The Wicomico Teacher of the Year Program provides students, families, colleagues, and others in the community the opportunity to nominate, celebrate and honor top educators from around the school system. Outstanding teachers may be nominated in each Wicomico school as well as in Wicomico’s special programs (Birth to Five program, English Language Support Center, Choices Academy, Online Learning Lab and Wicomico Elementary Virtual Academy). The online nomination form is available in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. Paper forms in each language are available on request by contacting any school office or the main office of the school system.
Schools will celebrate their nominees, recognize their top three nominees as quarterfinalists, and announce the school’s Teacher of the Year and semifinalist for Wicomico Teacher of the Year in January. For the special programs, one educator will be named the program’s Teacher of the Year, and the top-scoring teacher from the Special Programs will be a semifinalist for Wicomico Teacher of the Year.
Semifinalists will participate in the Fishbowl public speaking event in early 2023, and will submit a written prompt and interview with a blue-ribbon judging panel. Scores from these three activities will be tallied to determine the finalists and winner of Wicomico Teacher of the Year. The Wicomico Teacher of the Year Celebration will take place in the spring to celebrate all of the semifinalists, the Teachers of the Year for the Special Programs, and the finalists for the Rising Star Award for outstanding second-year teachers. The four finalists for Wicomico Teacher of the Year will be named that night, and the evening will end with the announcement of the 2024-2025 Wicomico Teacher of the Year.
“Great teachers affect the lives of students and families in lasting, positive ways. As a former student in our schools, I have many memories of outstanding teachers who supported me in being successful in school and being prepared for college and career,” said Dr. Micah Stauffer, Superintendent of Schools. “We have amazing teachers in Wicomico County Public Schools, and the Wicomico Teacher of the Year Recognition Program is a great opportunity to let those teachers know just how much we appreciate them. We’re excited to find out which of the amazing teachers who is serving students in our schools right now will be named the next Wicomico Teacher of the Year in a few months.”
Wicomico Teachers of the Year model teaching excellence. Current Wicomico Teacher of the Year Tara Martens, a math intervention teacher at West Salisbury Elementary, was a finalist for Maryland Teacher of the Year, as were the three Wicomico Teachers of the Year before her: Rebecca Mathews (Wicomico High), Dustin Thomas (Prince Street Elementary) and Hemalatha Bhaskaran (James M. Bennett High).
Wicomico is proud to have had on its staff three former Maryland Teachers of the Year: Aaron Deal (2004), then a computer education teacher at Salisbury Middle and now the Supervisor of New Teacher Induction and Educational Technology; April Todd, who was named both Somerset and Maryland Teacher of the Year and is now a middle school Thinking and Doing (TAD) teacher for Wicomico Schools; and Bonnie Walston (1994), then a resource teacher at Parkside High School and the Director of Special Education until her retirement last summer.
Nominate a great teacher today!