Feb. 8, 2007, St. Paul, Minn. -- The field of possible candidates for this year’s Minnesota Teacher of the Year honor has been narrowed to 35. A selection panel of 21 community leaders meeting in St. Paul had the difficult task of choosing the semifinalists from an initial field of 130 candidates from across the state. The panel will meet again near the end of March to select about 10 finalists from among the group of semifinalists. The current Minnesota Teacher of the Year, Lee-Ann Stephens, will announce her successor at a banquet at The Northland Inn and Conference Center in Brooklyn Park on May 6.

Semifinalists in this year’s program include:

District Name	Subject Area	Grade Level
Anoka-Hennepin	Marcia Nelson	English 9-12
Burnsville-Eagan-Savage	Eileen Abrahamson	Elementary 3
Dawson-Boyd	Samuel Olson	Physics/Chemistry 11-12
Deer River	Karen Teff	Mathematics 7-12
Edina	Robert Ouren	Music 6-7
Fairmont	Roxy Janke	English/Speech 11-12
Hibbing	Mary Beth Reller	Music K-6
Hutchinson	Arlyn DeBruyckere	Science 10-12
Intermediate District 287	Michael Smart	Japanese 9-12
Minneapolis	Michelle Reau	Elementary K
Minneapolis	Jane Shinobu Sasaki	Elementary 1
Minnetonika	Brent Frank	Elementary 5
Montevideo	Jon Dreyer	Physical Education/ Developmental/Adapted Phy Ed/Health PreK-4, 7
Moorhead	Michelle Sailer	Art K-5
Mounds View	Connie Aiken	Orchestra 6-8
Mounds View	Kay Banister Schaffer	Social Studies/A.P. Psychology/ Sociology 11-12
Mounds View	Nancy Kellerman	Elementary 1-6
North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale	Pam Phillippi	Elementary 4
Orono	Donald Krubsack	Music 9-12
Owatonna	Mike Stormo	Physical Science/A.P. Physics 9-12
Pillager	Charles Johnson	Music 1-12
Pine River-Backus	Catherine Brennan	English 10, 12
Princeton	Jon Steinbrecher	Elementary 2
Prior Lake-Savage	Penny Springer	Chemistry 11
Proctor	Lynn Peterson	English 9
Rochester	Kathryn Gardner	Social Studies 10-12
Rochester	Barbara Milburn	English/Language Arts 10-12
Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan	Linda Albertson	French 9-12
South St. Paul	Daniel Swensen	Mathematics/Science 9-12
Spring Lake Park	William Neiss	EMT/Self Defense 9-12
West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan	Stacy Lufkin	Social Studies 9-12
Waconia	Douglas Sayles	Elementary K
Wayzata	Curtis Miller	American History 7
White Bear Lake	Jeremy Rockford	Band 9-12
White Bear Lake	Deb Schmidt	Elementary K

Education Minnesota organizes and underwrites the Minnesota Teacher of the Year Program, which receives support from the following organizations: The SMARTer Kids Foundation, The Northland Inn and Conference Center, United Educators Credit Union, The Harvard Club of Minnesota, McDonald’s Restaurants of Minnesota, Teacher Federal Credit Union, Pearson Education and Education Minnesota ESI.