Donna Emmons Named DeKalb County Teacher of the Year

An educator from DeKalb County High School was named “DeKalb County Teacher of the Year” Thursday night during the fifth annual Teacher of the Year banquet at the Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church.
Donna Emmons received the honor and a check for $150 from Liberty State Bank, the sponsor of the banquet. The presentation was made by Director of Schools Mark Willoughby and Roy Nelson Pugh of Liberty State Bank.
Emmons was among five local educators who were recognized during the banquet for being chosen by peers as “Teacher of the Year” at their schools. The others were Beth Cantrell from Smithville Elementary School, Karen Pelham from DeKalb Middle School, Jane Watson from DeKalb West School, and Bethany Rigsby from Northside Elementary School.
Three of the educators, earlier this year, were selected “Teachers of the Year” locally and competed for regional honors in the Tennessee Teacher of the Year Program.
Michelle Burklow, Supervisor of Instruction for Pre-K through sixth grade, explained how the Teachers of the Year are selected. “Every year DeKalb County participates in the Tennessee Teacher of the Year program. Each school picks a Teacher of the Year from their school. That teacher is sent to the county level and we also participate in the regional by picking a teacher in Pre-K through 4th grade, a teacher in the 5th through 8th grade, and a 9th through 12th grade teacher. This year we sent nominations over (for regional competition) and we also sent the names of all five teachers of the year where a committee made up of several supervisors from the Upper Cumberland scored our county applicants based on the Rubric scoring guide,” said Burklow. The overall Teacher of the Year from DeKalb County was chosen by this committee.
Emmons teaches English I, Journalism, and advises the student media program, Tiger Media. She has been a teacher in the freshman academy since its inception (now in its 6th year). Cantrell is a kindergarten teacher at Smithville Elementary School; Rigsby, a third grade teacher at Northside Elementary School; Pelham, an eighth grade teacher at DeKalb Middle School; and Watson is a fifth grade teacher at DeKalb West School.
Each principal introduced the Teacher of the Year at his or her school and remarked on how they deserved the honor.
The guest speaker for the banquet was Dr. John Carpenter, Pastor of the Smithville First United Methodist and Bright Hill United Methodist Churches.
(Top Photo: Roy N. Pugh of Liberty State Bank and Director of Schools Mark Willoughby with DeKalb County Teacher of the Year Donna Emmons of DCHS)
(Bottom Photo: Roy N. Pugh of Liberty State Bank (left) and Director of Schools Mark Willloughby (right) with Teachers of the Year: Karen Pelham, Beth Cantrell, Jane Watson, Donna Emmons, and Bethany Rigsby)