West Salisbury Elementary math intervention teacher Tara Martens, named as the 2023-2024 Wicomico Teacher of the Year in April, is one of seven finalists for the honor of Maryland Teacher of the Year as the Maryland Teacher of the Year Gala is held in Baltimore the evening of Friday, Oct. 13. Wicomico County Public Schools and the Wicomico County Board of Education wish Mrs. Martens good luck tonight as she enjoys the Gala along with top teachers from throughout the state.
Mrs. Martens has taught in Wicomico County Public Schools since 2012, and has been a math intervention teacher at West Salisbury Elementary since the 2018-2019 school year. She writes songs connecting music with math for the students she serves in math intervention. She also co-chairs West Salisbury’s Instructional Leadership Team and Family Engagement Committee. She initiated a Title 1 Summer Tutoring Program for grades 1 and 2, worked for Home Hospital, and served as a tutor at HALO. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Salisbury University in 2011, and a master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2017. She joined Wicomico County Public Schools in January 2012 as a 2nd Grade teacher at Beaver Run Elementary, where she taught until the end of the 2015-2016 school year. She was an intervention teacher at North Salisbury Elementary for two years, then began serving as a math intervention teacher at West Salisbury Elementary. She is a past recipient of the Baxter Enterprises McEducator Award for West Salisbury Elementary, and a member of the Wicomico County Education Association, the Maryland State Education Association, the National Education Association and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
“We are delighted to have Tara Martens of West Salisbury Elementary represent all of Wicomico’s 1,400 teachers as the 2023-2024 Wicomico Teacher of the Year. She represents Wicomico County Public Schools and its teachers very well in the Maryland Teacher of the Year Recognition Program,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Micah Stauffer said.
This is the first time the Maryland Teacher of the Year Gala has been held since October 2019. Teachers of the Year did not have the opportunity to attend an in-person event from 2020 through 2022, so teachers of the year from those three years were also invited to attend this evening’s Gala. Representing Wicomico, in addition to current Teacher of the Year and state finalist Mrs. Martens, are these Wicomico Teachers of the Year, all of whom were also state finalists: Hemalatha Bhaskaran, 2020 (James M. Bennett High), Dustin Thomas, 2021 (Prince Street Elementary), and Rebecca Mathews, 2022 (Wicomico High). Wicomico celebrates these outstanding teachers, who are among the very best in Maryland.
Wicomico is also proud to have had three former Maryland Teachers of the Year working in the school system on behalf of students: Bonnie Walston (who recently retired), Aaron Deal and April Todd.
Eastern Shore schools are well-represented among the seven finalists for Maryland Teacher of the Year this year. Wicomico, Worcester, Queen Anne’s and Cecil county public schools all have finalists.
