2016 SBISD Teachers of the Year Named

SBISD Superintendent Scott Muri presented Teacher of the Year Gold Apple awards to Amanda Tysor of Northbrook High School (left) Teresa Dolan of Edgewood Elementary (right).

A teacher librarian at Edgewood Elementary School and an Algebra instructor at Northbrook High School have been named Spring Branch ISD’s Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year.

The annual awards were announced at the Service Awards employee recognition event held May 4 at the Omni Houston Hotel Westside.

SBISD Superintendent Scott Muri presented Teacher of the Year Gold Apple awards to Teresa Dolan of Edgewood Elementary and Amanda Tysor of Northbrook High School.

During the evening program, Vivian Pratts of Edgewood Elementary and Jennifer Parker of Spring Woods High School were also honored as Principals of the Year. 

Approximately 500 district employees and guests joined teacher of the year candidates and principals of the year for the dinner program, which also honored SBISD employees and retirees for their many years of public service to all students.

View all 2016 Campus Teachers of the Year >>

This Service Awards celebration set a milestone in partner awards to honorees:

·        For the first time, SBISD’s Principals of the Year each received a $1,000 cash award. This extra recognition was made possible through a partnership with Nexen, Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital and an anonymous donor.

·        All Teacher of the Year finalists received a first-ever cash award of $250, while Teachers of the Year received a $1,500 cash award, largest ever for this honor. These cash awards were made possible through SBISD partners First Community Credit Union, a longtime donor to the Teacher of the Year awards, and Nexen and Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital.

·        Teachers of the Year will each enjoy a one-night stay at the Omni Houston Hotel Westside as a special gift from the event hotel.

·        In addition, the two Teacher of the Year winners will each receive a $2,000 stipend through the school district for professional development.

Elementary Teacher of the Year Teresa Dolan earned her master’s degree in library science last year from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. She is a 2005 University of Houston - Downtown graduate and she earned a masters of arts and teaching degree from UH - Downtown, too.

“I feel honored to be sharing a stage with such amazing educators,” Dolan said at the Service Awards. “I feel very fortunate to work for a district that supports educators of all kinds. It’s a special place that encourages teachers to do all they can to help students, and I can’t wait to see how becoming a District of Innovation will continue this.”

Secondary Teacher of the Year Amanda Tysor is a proud product of SBISD. She attended Memorial Drive Elementary, Spring Branch Middle and graduated from Memorial High in 2008 before heading to the University of Texas at Austin. She returned to Northbrook High and her school district through Teach for America.

“I believe that the job of a teacher is to create an environment of support so that students can take risks and learn new content as they journey toward their future,” she said in her Teacher of the Year application.

“I get to be the positive adult that believes in them, cares about them and teaches them to advocate for themselves and their personal success. I create a culture in my Algebra classroom of hard work and hope for what is to come,” she also said.

As district Teachers of the Year, Dolan and Tysor will next represent the district in regional competition. If successful, they’ll compete later at the state and then at the national level.

In addition to these honorees, SBISD’s Teacher of the Year Finalists this year were Amanda Badrak of Spring Shadows Elementary, Stephanie Walton of Wilchester Elementary, Elaine Sorsby of Stratford High, Michael Ortiz of The Guthrie Center, and Jonathan Cook of Spring Branch Middle.

Serving as this year’s master of ceremonies at the dinner event was Scott Kennedy from the Stratford High Class of 2016.

Spring Branch Middle student and vocalist Decory Brown opened the event with a compelling performance of “The World’s Greatest” by R. Kelly.

The Landrum Middle School A Capella Choir  performed song selections during a Years of Service Recognition for longtime employees and retirees. The choir director is Jaime Trigo.

SBISD Community Relations Officer Linda Buchman honored retirees, while she noted that the group has a combined 2,506 years in public education service, with an average number of years in education of 25 years. A majority of those years in service are with SBISD students, or more than 2,000 combined total years.