Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Tickets available for TOTY event By J. FRANK LYNCH jflynch@theCitizenNews.com Tickets can still be purchased to Thursday’s ceremony naming Fayette County’s 2004-05 Teacher of the Year, an annual event that celebrates the best and brightest classroom innovators from a school system held up more and more as a model for the rest of Georgia to follow. The three finalists are Catherine Douthard of Cleveland Elementary in Fayetteville, Jennifer Couch of Kedron Elementary in Peachtree City, and Wynetta Scott-Simmons of Peeples Elementary at Starrs Mill. One will be named Teacher of the Year in the program. It starts at 7 p.m. at Fayetteville First Baptist, 205 East Stonewall Ave., just off the Courthouse Square. A catered reception will follow in the church fellowship hall. Tickets are $5 and available in the front office at any county school, or at Board of Education headquarters in Fayetteville. The spotlight Thursday will be on the three finalists and eventual winner, who will go on to represent Fayette County in the statewide Teacher of the Year contest next year. But each of the Teacher of the Year honorees from Fayette’s 28 campuses will be recognized as well during the ceremony. In addition to Douthard, Couch and Scott-Simmons, the other school-level Teachers of the Year are Cathy Robertson, Braelinn; Barbara Harris, Brooks; Peggy James, Crabapple Lane; Donna Borders, East Fayette; Bob Kenner, Fayette County Alternative; Bruce Murdock, Fayette County High; Brenda Stokes, Fayette Middle; Michelle Tarpley, Fayetteville Intermediate; Linda Hall, Hood Avenue; Mystic Thompson, Flat Rock Middle; Susan Naschke, Huddleston. Also, Chris McBarnette, J. C. Booth Middle; Bunky Colvin, McIntosh High; Susan Reed, North Fayette; Anne Bules, Oak Grove; Caroline Mrizek, Peachtree City; Joliene Price, Rising Starr Middle; Donna Baena, Robert J. Burch; Daniel Smith, Sandy Creek High; Susan Gittins, Sara Harp Minter; Amy Henley, Spring Hill; Kerry Wright, Starrs Mill High; Judy Caldwell, Tyrone; Mary Ann Velasco, Whitewater High; Joyce Blake, Whitewater Middle. Thanks will also be given to the county’s reigning top teacher, Jan Daniel of Fayette County High, who along with former administrators and retired teachers served on the panel of judges to select the three finalists. Beyond the recognition from being named a Teacher of the Year finalist, the winner and runners-up are presented a host of gifts from area merchants.