List down to 4 for state Teacher of Year

Educators represent LR, Van Buren, Springdale, Lake Hamilton school districts

Arkansas Teacher of the Year finalists Julia Crane (from left), Brian Leonard, Emma Mateo and Courtney Cochran talk with each other and Gov. Asa Hutchinson (right) during a recognition event Wednesday at the state Capitol in Little Rock.
Arkansas Teacher of the Year finalists Julia Crane (from left), Brian Leonard, Emma Mateo and Courtney Cochran talk with each other and Gov. Asa Hutchinson (right) during a recognition event Wednesday at the state Capitol in Little Rock.

Teachers from Little Rock, Van Buren, Springdale and Lake Hamilton school districts are in the running to be Arkansas' 2017 Teacher of the Year.

The four teachers -- two who work in high schools as well as one elementary teacher and one middle school teacher -- were named Wednesday at the conclusion of a state Capitol ceremony to honor all 14 regional finalists for the award that carries a $15,000 prize, a year of classroom leave to work with teachers statewide and participation in the national Teacher of the Year competition.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson; Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key; state Board of Education Chairman Mireya Reith; Naccaman Williams, who is special-interest director for the Walton Family Foundation; and 2016 Teacher of the Year Meghan Ables were participants in the ceremony. The Walton Family Foundation is a sponsoring organization of the award program.

The four semifinalists will be observed and interviewed at their schools in the coming weeks by the state's Teacher of the Year selection committee. A winner will be announced later this year. The four semifinalists are:

• Courtney Cochran, a 10th-through-12th grade Spanish teacher at Van Buren High School. A teacher for 11 years, the Benton native was cited for the professional development sessions she provides to her teacher colleagues as well as her coordination of summer camps for bilingual students. She also teaches Spanish at her town's library.

• Julia Crane, a kindergarten-through-fifth grade English as a Second Language teacher at Monitor Elementary School in the Springdale district. The 15-year teacher was cited for her refusal to allow poverty to hold back student achievement. She has started ukulele and hula dancing clubs for her students and led her pupils in publishing a book about the cultures of Pacific Islands people.

• Brian Leonard, an 11th- and 12th-grade Advanced Placement statistics and calculus teacher at Lake Hamilton High. A 2013 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence for the teaching of math, Leonard was recognized by The New York Times in October 2011 after 65 of his students passed Advanced Placement exams, which was the highest number among the 1,853 teachers participating in the National Math and Science Initiative at that time.

• Emma Mateo, who was a kindergarten-through-fifth grade special education teacher for 14 years at Otter Creek Elementary in the Little Rock district before becoming a sixth-grade special education teacher at the new Pinnacle View Middle School this year. Inspired by her own disabled sister's struggles with education, Mateo earned a master's degree in special education at the University of the Philippines. She started an annual student recognition celebration at her school and is a mentor to new teachers.

The regional semifinalists are:

Jennifer Andrews, Walnut Ridge Elementary in the Lawrence County School District; Susan Bucher, McRae Elementary in the Searcy School District; Heather Carr, College Hill Elementary in the Texarkana School District; Anita Cagers-Coleman, Ruth Doyle Middle School in the Conway School District; Adriane Duke, Annie Camp Junior High in the Jonesboro School District; Amy Griffin, Park Avenue Elementary in the Stuttgart School District; Emily Hemme, Cotter High in the Cotter School District; Cherilyn Minnis, Academies of West Memphis in the West Memphis School District; Denise Phillips, East Side Elementary in the Magnolia School District; and Charre Todd, Crossett Middle School in the Crossett School District.

Metro on 09/29/2016

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