Stamford Teacher Of The Year, Spotlight Award Winners Announced

Via Stamford Public Schools: Stamford, CT — Each year, Stamford Public Schools (SPS) recognizes outstanding teachers in the district through its Teacher of the Year and Spotlight Award program.

The program's 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, according to a statement from the district.

From among all submissions received, the committee chose four individuals and one team to be honored with Spotlight Awards, as well as an exclusive group of six to be considered for Teacher of the Year designation.

After reviewing the nominations and interviewing candidates, the committee named the following educators as 2020-2021 Teacher of the Year finalists:

• Saleh Jahangir - Stamford High School Science Teacher
• Barbara Hanauer - Toquam Magnet School Special Education Teacher
• Diana Pelliccia - Toquam Magnet School Special Education Teacher
• Lisa Legato-Howlett - Individuals Achieving Independence Teacher

The committee also designated Rippowam Middle School Science Teacher Frank Aulenti and Academy of Information Technology & Engineering World Language Teacher Raquel Bonessi as semifinalists.

In the next phase of the Teacher of the Year process, each of the four 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 teachers or teams of teachers who demonstrated outstanding teaching or support in the past year as Spotlight Winners:

• Tanvi Rishi, SPED teacher - Newfield Elementary School
• Blakeley Cohen, Literacy Support Specialist - Scofield Magnet Middle School
• Laura Mase, Speech/Hearing Pathologist - Rippowam Middle School
• Diane Gamse, Teacher for Hearing Impaired - District Middle and High Schools
• Petrina Powell, Susan Conner, Heysha Vasquez, English Learner Team - Julia A. Stark Elementary School

"The Teacher of the Year and Spotlight Award Program Committee has the distinct pleasure of selecting a recipient for the SPS Teacher of the Year Award, an award reserved for those among the most dedicated, innovative teachers in our district," Program Committee Chair Katelyn Tavolacci said in a statement.

The district will honor this year's winner, first finalist, finalists, semi-finalists and Spotlight Award winners at the Stamford Public Education Foundation's 13th annual Excellence in Education celebration on Thursday, March 26, at the Stamford Marriot Hotel and Spa from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.