Staff, faculty members and administrators gathered at the Wildcat Arena Thursday morning to celebrate the end of the school year with the El Dorado Education Foundation’s teacher excellence awards.
Honorees included teachers from each school in the district and 15 semifinalists, nine finalists and the three Outstanding Educator winners.
At the elementary level, semifinalists included Leah Barbarotto of Hugh Goodwin, Madelyn Freer of Northwest and Leanne Barnett of Yocum. For the middle and junior high schools, the semifinalists were Ashley Johnson, Melissa Upchurch and Deborah Guevara of Washington and Lisa Hooks, Calandra Brown and Mary Hodnett of Barton.
At the high school level, semifinalists included Natalye Leake, Pate Bauldree, LaPorsha Carter, Clair Antoon, Aprile Richardson and Molly Rottman.
The nine finalists were Leah Barbarotto, Madelyn Freer and Leanne Barnett at the elementary level; Melissa Upchurch, Deborah Guevara and Calandra Brown at the middle/junior high level; and Pate Bauldree, Clair Antoon and Molly Rottman at the high school level.
The Outstanding Educator winners were Leah Barbarotto for the elementary schools, Calandra Brown for the middle/junior high level and Clair Antoon at the high school level.
High school Outstanding Educator winner Clair Antoon was an El Dorado Promise graduate, marking the first time the award has gone to a Promise graduate.
Outstanding Educator winners received trophies, a $1,000 cash “special award,” and portraits made “in their honor.”
Murphy USA sponsored the ceremony and the company’s director of philanthropy and community relations, Courtney Crotty, spoke briefly to open the event.
“[Murphy USA] remains committed to supporting the El Dorado Education Foundation, the El Dorado Promise and each one of you here today. We understand that a first class education begins and ends with first-class educators,” Crotty said.
Elected officials including Rep. Sonia Barker, Rep. Matthew Shepherd and Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer presented and handed out awards in the various categories.
Rep. Barker presented the elementary award, Rep. Shepherd presented the middle/junior high award and Roger Landes, a senior attorney with Murphy Oil, presented the high school award, and each read comments from the judging committee about the winners.
Barker, who is a teacher and coach in the Smackover-Norphlet School District, came forward first to present the elementary award to Leah Barbarotto.
“A colleague commented that this educator has high expectations and does not accept anything less than what these high expectations demand. Yet, this educator still has a fun and motivating manner. Students do not want to let this teacher down and in this class, students, they find a love of learning,” Barker said of Barbarotto.
Barbarotto has also taught an honors choir group, works in intervention for kindergartners after school and meets with a Sunday reading group.
Shepherd came forward next to present the middle/junior high award to Calandra Brown.
“This educator stated ‘one of my greatest accomplishments is the connections made with parents and students,’ even through a lack of in-person proximity due to the pandemic. A colleague wrote that this teacher has a gift for developing learning relationships, adding that students recognize that there is caring in the classroom and they look forward to being there. This teacher brings fun as well as rigor to classes,” Shepherd said of Brown.
Lastly, Landes presented the high school award to Clair Antoon.
“This teacher stands out as an example of what can be accomplished when high standards of performance are set and nothing less is accepted. This year, this teacher set a personal goal to increase diversity of students in courses taught and, furthermore, this educator redesigned curriculum to better meet the needs of students, saying ‘you can’t have rigor without support…’ One student wrote, ‘her ability to keep the attention of students is astronomical. She has inspired me towards a new-found love of literature,’” Landes said of Antoon.
According to a press release from the district, nominees for “outstanding teaching” are gathered from “parents, grandparents, guardians, students, former students, the public and other teachers.”
Certified staff members vote on the 15 semifinalists, narrowing the selections to one teacher from each elementary school, three from both the middle school and junior high school and six from the high school.
Next, semifinalists submit written applications which are judged by a panel at South Arkansas University, narrowing the field to nine finalists.
The judging committee then interviewed each finalist on Zoom.
Superintendent Jim Tucker closed out the ceremony with a short speech.
“Can you believe the last normal opening or closing session we had was opening session in 2019? We’re starting to move more that way - this is the closest to normal we’ve been. We’re getting there and I think it’s exciting,” Tucker said.
Tucker concluded by inviting teachers to lunch in the cafeteria following the program and asking for and receiving a moment of silence for EHS English teacher Deeanna Moon, who died in a car accident on May 30.