Smokey Road Middle School math teacher Clay Hildebrand was named the 2007 Teacher of the Year for Coweta County, at the annual Teacher of the Year program on May 22.

Hildebrand, a former Marine, and a teacher at the school since 2005, was chosen from among three finalists to represent the county as Teacher of the Year. He and his fellow finalists spoke at the May 22 program at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts.

Wendy Arnold, a special education teacher at Northgate High School, and Carol Turner, a technology teacher at Lee Middle School, were among the finalists for the county-wide honor.

Hildebrand said he was humbled and honored to be chosen. “Our students were excited to see our names in the paper," said Hildebrand, upon accepting the honor, "but really they just want us to show up tomorrow,” he joked.

Hildebrand will now also compete for the state Teacher of the Year honor later in the year.

Coweta County’s 2006 Teachers of the Year chose the three finalists for 2007 TOTY from among 29 Teachers of the Year, who represent each of Coweta County’s public schools. Hildebrand was chosen from among the three finalists by an independent three-judge panel. Poplar Road Kindergarten Teacher Terri Buckland was chosen as the 2006 Teacher of the year at last year’s program.

Teachers of the Year are selected by their peers for the quality of their teaching, professional development, teaching philosophy and methods, community involvement, and contributions to education.

The Coweta County School System is the only school system in Georgia with three state teachers of the year, including Lorraine Johnson, Nancy Royal and Jamie Lipscomb. There have also been twelve Georgia TOTY semi-finalists from Coweta since 1986

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