GISD, NISD educators nominated for Region 9 Teacher of the Year

Two Graham ISD teachers and one Newcastle ISD teacher have been named Region 9 Education Service Center Teacher of the Year nominees. The area teachers are three of 34 teachers from 17 school districts which will be honored at an event in August.

GISD nominees are Graham High School teacher Sarah Curd and Crestview Elementary School teacher Ashlee McDougal. The NISD nominee is Newcastle High School teacher Courtney Bozeman.

Region 9 ESC will host a luncheon ceremony to recognize the educators at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2 at the service center located at 301 Loop 11 in Wichita Falls. Each teacher nominee will be recognized and the Elementary Teacher of the Year and Secondary Teacher of the Year for Region 9 will be announced.

Across Region 9, a total of 14 elementary school teachers and 20 secondary school teachers were nominated. The region includes 37 school districts with 3,011 teachers providing services to nearly 37,000 students.

Selections as the Region 9 Elementary Teacher of the Year and Secondary Teacher of the Year will be submitted to the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) for consideration in the 2024 Texas Teacher of the Year program.

According to Region 9, the TASA Teacher of the Year program, which was facilitated by the organization in 2011, is the highest honor the state can bestow on a teacher. The program recognizes teachers who have demonstrated leadership and excellence in teaching.

According to TASA, 40 regional Teachers of the Year are considered for Texas Teacher of the Year in a selection process by the organization.
Judges will meet in August to narrow the pool to six finalists – three elementary and three secondary teachers.

In September and October, the finalists are interviewed by a panel of judges who will select the Texas Elementary and Texas Secondary Teachers of the Year.

Following the state selection process, those selections will be considered for the National Teacher of the Year program.

The judges for the state program designate one educator to serve as the official Texas Teacher of the Year for the nation program conducted by the Council of Chief State School Officers.

In January, a selection committee of major national education associations selects four finalists for the National Teacher of the Year from the state nominees.

The national designee will be announced in spring by the president during a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House.