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For the first time ever, the Alameda County Office of Education will honor the 31st annual Teacher of the Year winners — as well as recipients of the brand-new Bridging the Distance Awards — with a virtual ceremony this Wednesday (Dec. 9), starting at 7 p.m.
The pre-recorded online event “recognizes honorees for their individual dedication and excellence in the classroom, and acknowledges the thousands of educators doing amazing work across Alameda County every day,” ACOE officials said in a statement.
Now in its third decade, the annual awards ceremony will also honor the first recipients of the Bridging the Distance Awards, including Valley View Elementary teacher Maestra Lourdes Luy and Huong Giang at Sunol Glen School.
Bridging the Distance is a “new honor for educators specific to this unique time” that recognizes teachers with “demonstrated innovation, creativity, compassion, care, and a commitment to equity during distance learning.”
“No one is more impactful than a teacher — whether in the classroom with students, or not,” said Superintendent L. Karen Monroe. “That will never change.”
Seven educators, including Giang and Luy, were selected for the award after 261 nominations were submitted by parents, guardians and students throughout the county.
In light of the pandemic, ACOE is not naming county-level Teacher of the Year honorees this year. Instead, the department said two county-level honorees from the combined 2020 and 2021 cohorts will be named for consideration of the 2021 California Teacher of the Year Award.
Among the Teacher of the Year honorees are Nicole Meyer, and English and AVID teacher at Fallon Middle School in Dublin; computer arts and IT teacher Miguel Baez at Granada High School in Livermore; and biomedical science teacher Josh Hill at Foothill High School in Pleasanton.
“Over the past many months, teachers and schools have faced — yes: unprecedented — challenges,” Monroe said. “But they are no strangers to challenge. They have persisted through inadequate funding, the external pressures of a polarized world, and increased stresses placed on the students they serve at every turn.”
Viewers are encouraged to post on social media during the event with #acteacheroftheyear. The Teacher of the Year Awards take place Dec. 9, starting 7 p.m., at acoe.org/teacheroftheyear.
