Teacher of the Year Award

Sacramento City Unified School District: Teacher of the Year Nominations

Overview

We are now accepting nominations for Sacramento City Unified School District: Teacher of the Year. Deadline for applications is February 28, 2018.

Our Teacher of the Year Program actively encourages applicants that fully represent the diverse ethnic and cultural composition of our state’s teaching force, as well as of its varied geographical settings. Teachers are eligible to go on to county, state, and national competition. The program seeks teachers with exemplary personal growth, commitment, personal attitude, and professional skills.

The Teacher of the Year Program celebrates and pays special tribute to the tireless efforts of our  outstanding teachers. In doing so, the program brings well-deserved recognition to the whole teaching profession.

The program’s goals are to:

  • identify and honor outstanding teachers throughout our school community within a structure of local, regional, and statewide recognition activities;
  • select, for special commendation and responsibility, five teachers who will effectively represent our District teachers during the year, speaking for, energizing, and symbolizing the positive contributions of the teaching profession statewide;
  • focus attention on the positive accomplishments of students and teachers throughout our District; 
  • emphasize maintaining and improving student achievement.

For more information, email TeacherOfTheYear@scusd.edu.

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Congratulations to our Teachers of the Year Ms. Heidi Gaynor and Ms. Seema Sokolis!

Congratulations to our SCUSD Teachers of the Year! This year’s winners are Ms. Heidi Gaynor, a math teacher from Sutter Middle School, and Ms. Seema Sokolis, a teacher from James Marshall Elementary School.

Ms. Heidi Gaynor, Sutter Middle School 

Ms. Heidi Gaynor is a Mathematics teacher at Sutter Middle School. She has been a teacher with Sacramento City Unified School District for more than 18 years. 

Ms. Seema Sokolis, James Marshall Elementary School 

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Adult Education “Teacher of the Year” Named

Parvin Keyanpour, an Adult Education Parent Participation Preschool teacher at Edward Kelley Preschool, has been named SCUSD’s Adult Education Teacher of the Year. Ms. Keyanpour has been working as a preschool teacher in Adult Education for 20 years. Her commitment to the program goes beyond the classroom. She also maintains the history and life around Edward Kelley School. Ms. Keyanpour is a mentor, leader and friend for other teachers in the program, caring for their needs in and out of the classroom.  On February 28, Mary Shelton and Dr. Susan Gilmore surprised her at Edward Kelley with the announcement and presented her with balloons.

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Tiffany Wilson

2008-2009 Sacramento City Unified School District Teachers of the Year

Teacher finds niche in intensive intervention classes

In her senior year of high school, Tiffany Wilson’s parents were in a terrible auto accident that required them to be hospitalized for most of that school year. On her birthday, with her parents in the hospital, Wilson’s English teacher, Mary Ann Paul, baked her a carrot cake.

It was just a carrot cake, but the simple act of kindness turned Tiffany Wilson away from her childhood aspirations to be a scientist and toward her current career as an educator.

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Clayton Dagler

2006-2007 Sacramento City Unified School District Teachers of the Year

About Clayton Dagler:
In ninth grade, Clayton Dagler’s math teacher told him that he shouldn’t aspire to higher level math classes. Maybe the teacher was trying to do Dagler a favor. After all, the teenager did suffer from dyslexia and had a hard time in the class.

Instead, that demeaning comment had the opposite effect, giving Dagler the motivation to prove his teacher wrong. Instead of quitting math, Dagler continued to take higher level classes, eventually graduating from UC Davis with a mathematics degree.

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Jennifer Hughes

2005-2006 Sacramento City Unified School District Teachers of the Year

The next National Teacher of the Year could very well be one of the two outstanding teachers selected this year to represent Sac City in the first phase of the Teacher of the Year competition. 

Jennifer Hughes, an instructor for eight years, teaches a split first/second grade class at John Bidwell Elementary School.

With ten years in the classroom, Michael Holt teaches eighth grade at California Middle.

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2004-2005 Sacramento County Teacher of the Year Carol Cleland

Although Cleland currently teaches a 3rd grade GATE class, she’s taught every level from first through fifth. In the essay she submitted for the competition, Cleland stated, “I love teaching elementary grades because I am able to re-discover all of my favorite subjects including math, science, reading, writing and history. This age group enables me to stay young at heart.”

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2004-2005 Sacramento County Teacher of the Year Asa Salley

Asa was also selected as Sacramento County Teacher of the Year.

Seven years ago, Asa Salley began his teaching career at John Bidwell. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Multicultural Education.  Salley continues to share his knowledge with other educators by presenting at conferences, and was a guest lecturer at UC Davis on “closing the achievement gap.” “I try to take advantage of any opportunity to improve my teaching so I can give my students the very best of myself,” he said.