And the nominees for MCSD 2018 Teacher of the Year are ...

The Muscogee Educational Excellence Foundation on Wednesday announced the nominees for the Muscogee County School District 2018 Teacher of the Year award.

“MEEF is honored to acknowledge these 57 outstanding teachers as the 2018 Teacher of the Year honorees,” retired educator Carole Rutland, the foundation’s chairwoman, said in the news release. “Their commitment is the very foundation of our educational system. Their impact and influence on students is phenomenal, and we are privileged to recognize and reward them.”

The nominees are:

Elementary schools

Allen: Jacqueline White

Blanchard: Melissa Phelps

Brewer: Judy Woods

Britt David: Donna Shelton

Clubview: Luanne Ardovino

Davis: Mimi Reese

Dawson: Rachel Potenza

Dimon: Kelsey Prentice

Dorothy Height: Tomeka Trussell

Double Churches: April Gallahair

Downtown: Lindsay Tassoni

Eagle Ridge: Erin Sizemore

Forrest Road: Jasmine Pernell

Fox: Vernice McSwain

Gentian: Veronica Murray

Georgetown: Ashley Scott

Hannan: Jennifer Richardson

Johnson: Susan Elder

Key: Florence Evermon

Lonnie Jackson: Kimberly Porter

Martin Luther King Jr.: Vicel Jones

Mathews: Lindsay Hood

Midland: Alison Hess

North Columbus: Melanie Gouine

Reese Road: Heather Bolin

Rigdon Road: Libby Bonin-Campos

River Road: Tiffany Isabel

South Columbus: Teresa Mims

St. Marys Road: Erin Herringdine

Waddell: Kathy Shelby

Wesley Heights: Draveious Hurston-White

Wynnton: Margaret Hines

Middle schools

Aaron Cohn: Jeremy Pownall

Arnold: Troy Herlihy

Baker: Latisha Stephens-Archibald

Blackmon Road: Alicia Allen

Double Churches: Kimberly Evans

East Columbus: Arlys Clayborn

Eddy: Shamar Bedford

Fort: Esperanza Hood

Midland: Jeremiah Edwards

Richards: Patricia Blair

Rothschild: Ebonè Cutts

Veterans Memorial: Lindsey Woods

High schools

Carver: David Evans

Columbus: Amanda Hefner

Early College: Dawnell Jacobs

Hardaway: Jacqueline Wade

Jordan: Tiwauna Williams

Kendrick: Lola Farley

Northside: Carol Fasick

Shaw: Benjamine Hudson

Spencer: Kimbley Fisher

Specialized schools or programs

AIM: Gloria Askew

Rainey-McCullers: Kristan Macphail

St. Elmo: Kelly Jordan

Woodall: Wendye Melzar

Selection process

The staff of each MCSD school nominated a teacher to compete for the award. The foundation’s selection committee will evaluate their applications and will choose semifinalists to interview and finalists to observe teaching before announcing the winner during the May 3 gala in the Columbus Convention & Trade Center.

MEEF’s 2018 Teacher of the Year selection committee members are Carl Brown (insurance agent, C. Brown & Associates), Sheryl Green (English teacher, Jordan Vocational High School, 2015 MCSD Teacher of the Year), Kerry Hand (retired CEO of Communicorp), Donna Kemp (retired MCSD principal), Stefan Lawrence (English teacher, Carver High School, 2016 MCSD Teacher of the Year), Bridget Markwood (education consultant), Marquette McKnight (CEO of Media, Marketing and More), Warren Steele (committee chairman and retired Aflac executive) and Jimmy Yancey (retired Synovus chairman).

During the ceremony Wednesday in Legacy Hall at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, McKnight said the packages of applications the selection committee receives from the nominees are so big, they need boxes to carry them. So the task is daunting, she said, but also inspiring.

A typical email or text message from a selection committee member gushes, “You would not believe the application I read last night, where this teacher does X, or this teacher does Y, or this teacher is doing a phenomenal job at this school,” McKnight said.

MEEF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering educational excellence by focusing on teachers who are innovative and exceptionally effective in their profession. In its 22-year history, the foundation has awarded more than $2.2 million to such educators through financial incentives in the Teacher of the Year program, the Harvard Fellows program, the MEEF Grant program and the MEEF Endowment Fund.

MCSD superintendent David Lewis thanked MEEF for the positive impact it makes.

“It is second to none in terms of recognizing teacher excellence and promoting the teaching profession in general,” he said.

Lewis told the nominees that the most outstanding award people can receive comes from their peers.

“You’ve all been selected to represent your school,” he said. “And more importantly, you represent our community and our school system. ... Thank you for what you do and for what you mean to our students, to our community and generally to our entire country. I think oftentimes we don’t thank our teachers our enough.”

This story was originally published January 31, 2018 at 4:26 PM with the headline "And the nominees for MCSD 2018 Teacher of the Year are ...."