Stamford Public Schools Announces Spotlight Award Winners

Information via Stamford Public Schools

STAMFORD, CT — Each year, Stamford Public Schools recognizes outstanding teachers in the district through its Teacher of the Year and Spotlight Award Program.

According to a news release, the Teacher of the Year and Spotlight Award Program committee solicited nominations from September through December and evaluated all submissions based on the following criteria: outstanding teaching, exceptional student support, exemplary community involvement and positive influence on school culture.

From among all submissions received, the committee chose five individuals to be honored with Spotlight Awards, as well as an exclusive group of three to be considered for Teacher of the Year designation. (To sign up for Stamford breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

After reviewing the nominations and interviewing the Teacher of the Year candidates, the committee named Stillmeadow Elementary School physical education teacher Judy Anker, Westhill High School agri-science teacher Ashley Porter-Collins and Stamford High School science teacher Donna Kaiser as 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year finalists.

In the next phase of the Teacher of the Year process, each of the three finalists must submit a 30-minute taped class lesson for review by the committee. The committee will consider the videos, along with the interviews and all other materials submitted during the course of the program, to choose the district's first finalist and Teacher of the Year winner.

In addition to the Teacher of the Year selection process, the committee also chooses those teachers or teams of teachers who demonstrated outstanding teaching or support in the past year as Spotlight Winners.

2021-2022 Spotlight Award Winners

• Jillian Churchill - Cloonan Middle School
• Shakia Amaro - Stillmeadow Elementary School
• Nicole Ballantoni - Dolan Middle School
• Kirsten Cianci - SPS Anchor at Harbor Landing
• Briana Coyle - Northeast Elementary School

"The Teacher of the Year committee is proud to select the recipient for the SPS Teacher of the Year award, an honor reserved for outstanding teaching, dedication and accomplishments both in and out of the classroom," 2020-2021 Teacher of the Year Barbara Hanauer said in a news release.

Hanauer also serves as co-chair of the Teacher of the Year and Spotlight Award program committee.

The district will honor the 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year winner, finalists and Spotlight Award winners as part of the Stamford Public Education Foundation Excellence in Education Awards live stream celebration on March 25 at 6 p.m.