Parish honors its Teachers of the Year with ceremonies last week

Three Iberville Parish public school teachers were named and honored as 2011 District Teachers of the Year at an awards ceremony held last week in Plaquemine.         

Capturing the district honors were Lacey Bueche,  a third grade teacher at North Iberville Elementary as Elementary School Teacher of Year; Leslie Hebert, a middle school sixth and seventh grade reading and math teacher at the Math, Science and Arts Academy-West as Iberville Parish Middle School Teacher of Year; and Jane Green, a high school English teacher at White Castle High School as Iberville Parish High School Teacher of the Year.

All three teachers advance to the state’s eight-parish regional Teacher of the Year competition. If selected at the regional level, they will advance to the state competition finals.

The Louisiana Teacher of the Year Program, co-sponsored by the Louisiana Department of Education and the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, is an annual event designed to recognize outstanding elementary, middle, and high school teachers throughout the state. The program provides an excellent opportunity to recognize teachers from each local school system and to showcase their positive aspects of classroom teaching.

         The statewide competition is part of a national awards program in which a National Teacher of the Year is selected. This program honors teachers who are selected by their schools and districts, based on their performance throughout the 2010-2011 school year.

         Seventeen teachers were recognized as school level Teachers of the Year during the awards ceremony. Music and video presentations with interviews of the teachers was a new highlight and feature of this year’s presentation. It was produced by MSA-West students and shown prior to each teacher receiving a plaque.

          “The video presentations, created by students of the MSA-West Academy gave us insights into the teaching styles and philosophies of these great educators,” said Superintendent P. Edward Cancienne. 

                  Iberville Parish school level and district level winners were announced by Iberville Parish High School Student of the Year Kaleb Banks of Plaquemine High school. The event was coordinated by Iberville Parish School System Supervisor John Bueche.         

         Teachers honored at the evening ceremony were: Elementary School Division, Amy Dupre, Crescent; Jessica Dominique, Dorseyville; Kellye Carville, East Iberville, Ann Amorello, Iberville Elementary; Jennie Morales, MSA Academy West; and Lacey Bueche, North Iberville Elementary.  The Middle School Division school honorees were, Christina Jones, Crescent; Terri Hasten-Fleming, East Iberville; Katie Dicharry, Math, Science & Arts Academy East; Leslie Hebert, MSA West; April Durand, Plaquemine High, and Miyoshi Jones-Joseph, White Castle High School. High school honorees were Theresa Jones, East Iberville, Joanne Griffin, MSA-East; Candice Breaux, MSA-West; Jennifer Purnell, Plaquemine High, and Jane Green, White Castle High.

         More than 100 family, friends and school associates attended the event and reception.  Assisting with the event were volunteers Terry Gallagher, Cathy Olivier of PHS, and Cryister Overton, instructor, and Dylan Gilbert, student, at White Castle High School.

          MSA West orchestra played music selections and the National Anthem as part of the program and MSA-West economics teacher Chandler Smith directed the video presentations.