Mountain Brook Junior High teacher among 16 finalists for 2019-20 Alabama Teacher of Year
A teacher from Mountain Brook Junior High School has been selected as one of the 16 finalists for 2019-20 Alabama Teacher of the Year, the state Department of Education announced today.
Pam Pugh, an English teacher, is the Secondary Teacher of the Year for District 7 of the state school board. Pugh now will compete against seven other secondary teachers and eight elementary teachers from across the state for the Alabama Teacher of the Year award.
Before coming to Mountain Brook Junior High, Pugh taught for six years at Oak Mountain High School, where she was named that's school's Teacher of the Year in the 2011-12 school year. She also has taught at Riverdale Middle School in the Atlanta area and Marietta High School.
She has a master's degree in school counseling from the University of West Alabama and a bachelor's degree in secondary education from the University of Alabama.
The Elementary Teacher of the Year for District 7 is Ana Carolina Behel of Weeden Elementary School in Florence.
Here are the finalists from all eight districts:
- District 1 Elementary – Scott Parks, Saraland Elementary School in Saraland
- District 1 Secondary – Kathy Hughes, Spanish Fort High School in Baldwin County
- District 2 Elementary – Laura Traylor, Joseph W. Lisenby Primary School in Ozark
- District 2 Secondary – Jacque Middleton, Auburn High School in Auburn
- District 3 Elementary – Vickey Bailey, Chelsea Park Elementary School in Shelby County
- District 3 Secondary –Kimberly Lee Mitchell, Talladega Career Technical Center in Talladega
- District 4 Elementary – Abby Becker, Hall-Kent Elementary School in Homewood
- District 4 Seconeary –Stephanie Huffman, McAdory High School in Jefferson County
- District 5 Elementary – Catherine Anne Kenny, Pike Road High Middle School in Pike Road
- District 5 Secondary – Mashika Tempero-Culliver, Selma High School in Selma
- District 6 Elementary –Leslie Hughes, Walter M. Kennedy School in Pell City
- District 6 Secondary – Valeria Curtis, Pell City High School in Pell City
- District 7 Elementary – Ana Carolina Behel, Weeden Elementary School in Florence
- District 7 Secondary – Pam Pugh, Mountain Brook Junior High School in Mountain Brook
- District 8 Elementary – Jennifer Perkinson, Goldsmith-Schiffman Elementary School in Huntsville
- District 8 Secondary – Leah McRae, James Clemens High School in Madison
More than 140 teachers from across the state were nominated by their school systems for Alabama Teacher of the Year. All of them have excelled in the classroom and are preparing students for success through mentoring, innovative classroom instruction and a personal commitment to academic achievement, according to a press release from the Alabama Department of Education.
A committee will narrow down the 16 finalists to the “final four,” and then the state Teacher of the Year will be named at a ceremony in Montgomery on May 8.
Alabama’s Teacher of the Year spends the majority of a school year serving as a full-time ambassador for education and the teaching profession, as well as presenting workshops to various groups. Additionally, Alabama’s representative is a candidate for National Teacher of the Year.