Teacher of the Year candidate field narrowed to 32 semifinalists
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St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 17, 2010 – The field of possible candidates for this year’s Minnesota Teacher of the Year honor has been narrowed to 32. A selection panel of 25 community leaders meeting in St. Paul had the difficult task of choosing the semifinalists from an initial field of 107 candidates from across the state.
The panel will meet again in late March to select about 10 finalists from among the group of semifinalists. The current Minnesota Teacher of the Year, Amber Damm of Minneapolis, will announce her successor at a banquet at The Northland Inn in Brooklyn Park on May 2.
Education Minnesota, the 70,000-member statewide educators’ union, organizes and underwrites the Teacher of the Year program. Candidates include pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers from public or private schools. The Minnesota Teacher of the Year Program also receives support from the following organizations: The SMARTer Kids Foundation, The Northland Inn, United Educators Credit Union, the Harvard Club of Minnesota Foundation, Education Minnesota ESI, McDonald’s Restaurants of Minnesota, Pearson Education and TruStone Financial.
Semifinalists for 2010 Minnesota Teacher of the Year, listed by district, are:
| District |
Name |
Subject area |
Grade level |
| Anoka-Hennepin |
Marcia Brucciani |
Psychology |
Grades 11-12 |
| Anoka-Hennepin |
Marcia Nelson |
English |
Grades 11-12 |
| Austin |
Tom Fritz |
Science |
Grades 7-8 |
| Bloomington |
Kimberly Mason |
Elementary |
Grade 4 |
| Centennial |
Chris Ripken |
Social studies |
Grade 9 |
| Cromwell-Wright |
John (Pete) Koenig |
Mathematics/physics |
Grades 8-12 |
| Eden Prairie |
Zong Heng |
Elementary |
Grade 4 |
| Eden Prairie |
Jared Johnson |
Elementary |
Grade 3 |
| Edina |
Robert Schneider |
Mathematics |
Grades 10-12 |
| Edina |
Jon Zetah |
Elementary |
Grade 5 |
| Mahtomedi |
Matthew Hoffman |
Elementary |
Grade 1 |
| Minnetonka |
Janetta Gong |
Elementary |
Grade 1 |
| Minnetonka |
Polly Patrick |
Social studies/language arts |
Grades 11-12 |
| Montevideo |
Richard Halterman |
Biological sciences |
Grades 9-12 |
| Mora |
Darcy Halverson |
Elementary |
Grades 1-2 |
| Owatonna |
Matthew McCartney |
Elementary |
Grade 5 |
| Roseau |
Brita Comstock |
Elementary |
Grade 1 |
| Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan |
Linda Albertson |
French |
Grades 9-12 |
| Roseville |
Joe Bartos |
Elementary |
Grade 4 |
| Roseville |
Amy Dahlin |
Language arts |
Grades 9-12 |
| Saint Paul |
Brooke Haubrick |
Elementary |
Grades 4-5 |
| Saint Paul |
Thanh Tran |
Elementary |
Grade 4 |
| Saint Paul |
Ryan Vernosh |
Elementary |
Grade 6 |
| South Washington County |
Phil Bratnober |
English |
Grades 10-12 |
| South Washington County |
Regina Seabrook |
Social studies |
Grade 10 |
| Stillwater |
Yoko Cheatham |
Elementary |
Grade 3 |
| Stillwater |
Lori Delahunt |
English |
Grades 11-12 |
| Tracy |
Monica Headlee |
Chemistry |
Grade 11 |
| W. St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan |
Ikhlas Abdelkhalig |
Elementary |
Grade 1 |
| Windom |
Laura Alvstad |
English |
Grades 7-12 |
| Winona |
Patti Darbo |
Special education |
Grades 10-12 |
| Winona |
Dwayne Voegeli |
Social studies |
Grades 9-12 |
Selection panel members for this year’s program include:
Stephanie Austin, St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce
Mary Beth Blegen, 1996 National Teacher of the Year
Tim Caroline, Minnesota Association of School Administrators
Sylvia Crannell, Science Museum of Minnesota
Amber Damm, 2009 Minnesota Teacher of the Year
Beverly Fritz, Phillips Eye Institute Foundation
Thomas Gale, Minnesota Alliance for Arts in Education
Rickey Hall, Office for Equity & Diversity, University of Minnesota
Gretchen Heath, Education Minnesota Retired
Joan Higinbotham, League of Women Voters of Minnesota
Naomi Hupton, Jacob Wetterling Resource Center
Katie Kaderlik, Education Minnesota Student Program
Cheryl Kortuem, Minnesota Elementary School Principals Association
Bruce Locklear, Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals
Bill Lunn, KSTP-TV
Jackie Magnuson, Minnesota School Boards Association
Glynn Merriewether, Parents United for Public Schools
Jennifer Niemi, Center for Indigenous Knowledge & Language Revitalization, U of M - Duluth
Derek Olson, 2008 Minnesota Teacher of the Year
George Peper, United Educators Credit Union
Mari Pokornowski, Minnesota Parent-Teacher Association
Dr. Gwen Rudney, University of Minnesota - Morris
Ramon Serrano, St. Cloud State University
Andrew Waldbillig, Education Minnesota Student Program
Dr. Nancy Walters, Minnesota Office of Higher Education
February 17, 2010