Seventeen LHS teachers received nominations to be named the 2015-2016 Teacher of the Year. Of those, a committee narrowed down the pool to five who have moved on to Finalist status.  At the staff meeting on Monday, Feb. 22, each of the finalists will be presented to the staff by the person who nominated them. Each presenter will have five minutes to talk about their nominee. After all finalists have been presented, the staff will vote to select the Teacher of the Year.

The 17 teachers who were nominated by other staff members or students included  Brad Balog, band; Shannon Campbell, science; David Choate, language arts; Vince DeBlasi, social studies; Crystal Gray, language arts; Joe Gutowski, orchestra; Dawn Indelicato-Faw, language arts; Jenny Ingram, language arts; Marietta Koziatek, math; Jeffery Landow, language arts; Jon Sumner, social studies; and Brittany Trott, social studies. The Rockwood School District’s requirements for eligibility for TOY are that the nominee must be a tenured teacher and must be willing to move forth with the Teacher of the Year process. The SSD teachers who were nominated but are not eligible to move forward because they have their own Teacher of the Year include Kathy Clayman , Jennifer Curtis and Brenda Eckelcamp. In addition, two non-tenured teachers were nominated. They were Meghan O’Donnell, photography and Magda Villwock, science.

“It is really nice, whether it is a teacher that nominates you or a student, that someone, either a colleague or someone you work with everyday, looks to you and says that person is doing a good job. It’s very gratifying,” Landow said.

The teachers in Special School District (SSD) are not eligible either because they have their own Teacher of the Year. While there are more candidates that have been nominated, some are not eligible for winning. Their names are: Kathy Clayman (SSD), Jennifer Curtis (SSD), Brenda Eckelcamp (SSD), Meghan O’Donnell (not tenured) and Magda Villwock (not tenured).

The nominees are picked by either a student or teacher filling out a form and turning it into the Teacher of the Year committee chairperson; this year, the chairperson is Theresa Gornet.

The finalists this year are Balog, DeBlasi, Gray, Koziatek and Trott. The final results will be announced some point during the day on Feb. 22.