Editor’s Note: It’s not that I was passed over (again). It’s just that I’m so good they can’t do without me for a year.
The 2008-09 AT&T North Carolina Teacher of the Year was to be announced last night during a recognition dinner and awards ceremony at the Brier Creek Country Club, 9400 Club Hill Drive, Raleigh.
The actual announcement was expected to take place around 8:00 p.m.
Finalists for the award are:
* North Central Region: Paige Elliott, Fuquay-Varina High (Wake County Schools);
* Northeast Region: Sonya Rinehart, John A. Holmes High (Edenton-Chowan Public Schools);
* Northwest Region: Janice Raper, Hurley Elementary (Rowan-Salisbury Schools);
* Southeast Region: Ruth Ann Parker, Clinton High (Clinton City Schools);
* Southwest Region: Bernard Waugh, Kannapolis Intermediate (Kannapolis City Schools);
* Sandhills/South Central Region: Trisha Muse, Page Street Elementary (Montgomery County Schools);
* Piedmont-Triad/Central Region: Cindi Rigsbee, Gravelly Hill Middle (Orange County Schools);
* West Region: Renee Peoples, West Elementary (Swain County Schools); and
* Charter Schools: Freida Baker, East Wake Academy (Wake County).
The AT&T North Carolina Teacher of the Year will spend the school year traveling the state as an ambassador for the teaching profession. In addition he/she will receive a limousine ride from the hotel to the country club courtesy of Blue Diamond Limousine, a personal automobile, an engraved plaque, a one-time cash award of $7,500, a national conference trip, the opportunity to travel abroad through an endowment at the North Carolina Center for International Understanding, and a technology package valued at over $14,000 from the SmarterKids Foundation. They also will serve as North Carolina’s nominee for the National Teacher of the Year competition.