2 From Mt. Diablo Valley Unified District Named Teachers Of Year

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA – Twenty-two deserving school teachers were honored and the county’s 2018-19 Teachers of the Year were named at Thursday's annual Contra Costa County Teachers of the Year dinner.

The gala drew more than 400 attendees to the Hilton Concord where Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools Karen Sakata concluded the evening by naming Mt. Diablo Unified School District teachers Kelly Perkins and Rosie Reid as the county’s 2018-19 Teachers of the Year.

Since the TOY program began in 1973, this is a rarity with two county TOYs coming from the same school district. The only other time was in 1979-1980 when Joseph Hipple and Ann Rowe represented the Mt. Diablo USD, school officials said.

Perkins, for the past 10 years, has been a special-education teacher at Ygnacio Valley High School in Concord, and previously taught special-ed classes for 17 years at other Mt. Diablo Unified schools, including Foothill Middle, Strandwood Elementary and Woodside Elementary. In addition, she also is an adjunct professor at St. Mary’s College, since 1998, where she teaches a variety of special-education-related courses for current and soon-to-be educators.

“I became a teacher because I enjoy interacting with students and supporting social and intellectual development,” Perkins said. “I also enjoy challenging students and guiding them toward becoming independent thinkers and learners. I chose special education simply because a summer school principal saw my potential in the area of special education and encouraged me to interview for an open special education position in the Mount Diablo Unified School District. Now, 27 years later, I can’t imagine doing anything else!”

Reid was destined to teach English, with her enormous appetite for reading since an early age, and always being the best customer when the book mobile came to town, and she walked away with a new tower of books.

For the past two years, Reid has taught English/ELD at Northgate High School in Walnut Creek. Her 16 years of instruction also includes teaching high school English courses at Piedmont High School and John O’Connell High School in San Francisco.

“Perhaps because of my fascination with books, teachers took an interest in me throughout my years of schooling, encouraging me, coaching me in ways my parents who hadn’t been to college didn’t always know how to,” Reid said. “I was the first in my family to go to college because of my caring teachers and coaches, so I know as well as anyone the impact educators can have on students’ lives. I became a teacher to pay this forward.”

Perkins and Reid’s pathways to becoming this year’s Contra Costa County Teachers of the Year were quite the endeavor, officials said. After both were named Teacher of the Year by their school districts last March, Perkins and Reid successfully proceeded, with the other 21, K-12 eligible county candidates, through a rigorous countywide selection process, including an application screening, classroom evaluation, interview and speech presentation.

Their two fellow finalists were Shanna Gagnon, San Ramon Valley Unified School District (California High School) and Andrea Salas, Martinez Unified School District, (Alhambra High School), according to officials.

Thursday evening’s gala audience included the TOYs’ family members and friends, as well as local educators, business partners and elected officials. Kicking off the festivities was a musical performance by the San Ramon Valley High School choir. Instructor Ken Abrams, a former San Ramon Valley Unified School District Teacher of the Year, led the 25-voice choir of talented singers.

The evening also offered a 15-minute video, featuring visits to each of the honored TOYs’ classrooms and short interviews with their students, followed by Sakata introducing and bringing onstage the TOY class of 2018-2019, where each teacher told the audience which teacher inspired them to follow careers in education.

Afterward, the four TOY finalists spoke to the crowd, incorporating the topic: “What I have learned from my students,” and the highly anticipated announcement of the two new county TOYs concluded the festivities with a loud ovation.

Perkins and Reid now will participate with other statewide county representatives in the California State TOY competition. The California State Teachers of the Year are expected to be announced in early October. The county TOY program is coordinated by the Contra Costa County Office of Education.

For additional info and a complete list of this year’s TOYS, visit the CCCOE’s Teacher of the Year Web page.

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--Images courtesy of Contra Costa County Office of Education: top left: Kelly Perkins; top right Rosie Reid; and San Ramon Valley High School choir.