By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Several Alabaster teachers were honored by the city’s Board of Education for their contributions to local children during a Dec. 11 meeting, and a few of them will move on to compete for statewide school awards.

School Board members and Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers presented awards to the Teachers of the Year from each of the city’s six schools during the meeting. Earlier this semester, each of the top teachers were selected by their peers and administrators to receive the recognition.

“It’s such a wonderful achievement to be chosen by your school,” Vickers said. “We appreciate all of you, and I am proud of you. When you are identified as a teacher of the year from your school, that is one of the biggest honors you can have.”

The top teachers also earned praise from the School Board members.

“Our teachers, that’s where the rubber meets the road. We have the best teachers in the world here in Alabaster,” said BOE member Linda Church.

“This is well-deserved,” said BOE President Adam Moseley. “All we have done the past four years has pointed us toward a bright future, and it’s because of our teachers, administrators and support staff.”

School Board member Ty Quarles, whose son attends Thompson High School, said he has firsthand experience with the system’s teachers.

“I know how blessed (my son) is to have the love and support and to be surrounded by the caliber of excellence we have here,” Quarles said.

The following teachers were named Teachers of the Year from their respective schools:

-Creek View Elementary School: Ann Coe

-Meadow View Elementary School: Joy Gould

-Thompson Sixth Grade Center: Donna Ott

-Thompson Middle School: Dori Hardee

-Thompson High School: Charli Lindley-Hamlin

 

Each year, the school system nominates a few of its top teachers to be eligible to receive statewide teaching awards:

 

-Coe was nominated for entry into the Jacksonville State University Teaching Hall of Fame

-Ott was nominated to compete for the Alabama Elementary Teacher of the Year award

-Hardee was nominated to compete for the Alabama Secondary Teacher of the Year award