Twenty-seven educators from Wicomico County Public Schools have been named semifinalists for Wicomico Teacher of the Year. These semifinalists will now go through an extensive judging process that will end in the new Wicomico Teacher of the Year being named Thursday, May 6.
A video announcing the names of the 2021 semifinalists for Wicomico Teacher of the Year is posted on the Wicomico Schools’ YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/j8cGrrPU8gM
Making the announcement are 2020-2021 Wicomico Teacher of the Year Hemalatha Bhaskaran and some of her James M. Bennett High students.
Congratulations and good luck to these 2021 semifinalists for Wicomico Teacher of the Year:
Beaver Run Elementary: Kristina Powell, Grade 1
Bennett Middle: Dawn Littleton, Art
Charles H. Chipman Elementary: Patricia Sims, Kindergarten
Choices Academy: Donna Chalmers, Online Lab Instructor
Delmar Elementary: Lisa Littleton, Grade 2
East Salisbury Elementary: Kirsten Biddle, Grade 3
Fruitland Intermediate: Anna Krider, Special Education
Fruitland Primary: Kelsey Murphy, Grade 1
Glen Avenue Elementary: Jenna Purnell, Grade 4
James M. Bennett High: Ann Schuchart, Family & Consumer Sciences
Mardela Middle and High: Trish Baer, Geometry & Algebra
North Salisbury Elementary: Christy Tawes, Grade 3
Northwestern Elementary: Nadia Peterson, Grade 1
Parkside High: Brittany Wolske, Biology
Pemberton Elementary: Shelly Gilmore, Prekindergarten
Pinehurst Elementary: Jodi Moore, Reading Intervention
Pittsville Elementary and Middle: Jessica Smith, School Library Teacher & Media Specialist
Prince Street Elementary: Dustin Thomas, Physical Education, Health & World Music
Salisbury Middle: Katie Serenyi, Grade 7 Math
West Salisbury Elementary: Angel Wright, Grade 2
Westside Intermediate: Kristen Ballard, Special Education
Westside Primary: Danielle Thompson, Kindergarten
Wicomico High: Stephanie McCoy, CTE Interactive Media
Wicomico Middle: Lillian Hoffman, Band Director
Willards Elementary: Mary Lynn Mather, Kindergarten
Birth to Five: Pamela Mills, Special Education
English Language Support Center: Beth Kaplan Wolff, ESOL
The annual Wicomico Teacher of the Year celebration will be held during Teacher Appreciation Week. Details are still to be determined, but the event will be held outdoors with fewer guests than in a typical year in order to observe physical distancing and capacity guidelines. Among the attendees will be 2020 Teacher of the Year semifinalists and the 2020 Rising Star, whose celebration was not held last spring due to the pandemic.
During the Teacher of the Year celebration, the 2021 semifinalists with the four highest scores will be named finalists, and from among those four finalists the new Wicomico Teacher of the Year will be named. An outstanding second-year teacher will be named the 2021 Rising Star that evening.
