Finalists for Montgomery County Teacher of Year Named

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ROCKVILLE, MD — Three teachers have been named finalists for the 2016–2017 Montgomery County Public Schools Teacher of the Year award.

According to a news release, the three educators are recipients of the Master Teacher Award by the Marian Greenblatt Education Fund.

They are:

Andrea Segovia, a third-grade teacher and team leader at Ashburton Elementary School in Bethesda. Colleagues call her compassionate, enthusiastic and creative. She works closely with special educators to provide a rigorous and supportive environment for the students in the Learning and Academic Disabilities program.

Due to her dedication and effectiveness, the school’s third-graders are among the highest performing in reading and mathematics, the school system says. The MCPS Elementary Integrated Curriculum team has produced video of her teaching practice to help in the development of teachers throughout the county. She was also selected as a third-grade representative to help develop curriculum materials.

Named an Early Career Leadership Fellow by the National Education Association and the Consortium for Educational Change, she is also a leader on the national education stage. She is working to create a professional development program so teachers can be identified as Google Apps for Education supports within their schools.

At Ashburton, she has been an integral part of the school’s transition to the Google Classroom platform, and she has provided countless individualized and whole-staff professional development sessions. In addition, she sponsors a study skills club, coaches Girls on the Run, and attends many after-school and weekend events.

Kimberly Skufca, a technology education teacher at Shady Grove Middle School in Gaithersburg. She is known as an effective, motivational and reflective educator with exceptional content knowledge and superior organizational and problem-solving skills.

She often has her students working in groups, and works to create an atmosphere where students are empowered by each other.

As one student noted, “Mrs. Skufca will not let you fail … she works so hard and makes the impossible possible.

Skufca also has become known as the go-to person at her school for technology needs or issues; she has taken on leadership roles such as Edline SuperUser, Electronic Gradebook Advisor and Technology Committee Chair.

Knowing that female students often shy away from math-heavy courses, she has worked tirelessly to enroll more female students in classes such as Computer-Aided Drafting and Design and Introduction to Engineering, and to ensure their success, officials said. The annual testing of student-built Sea Perch submersible robots at the U.S. Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center is an example of project-based learning at a superior level.

She also sponsors an after-school STEM Club, and never misses a school play or instrumental music performance.

Michael V. Williams, resource teacher for the social studies department at John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring. He teaches Advanced Placement (AP) World History, U.S. History and African American History.

Colleagues and parents say his teaching ability is invigorating and epitomizes excellence. He has developed programs to promote student achievement and leadership. The greatest example of this is as his role in co-founding the Montgomery County Minority Scholars Program, a student-driven initiative aimed at reducing the achievement gap by expanding the number of African-American and Latino students in honors and AP courses. This program has not only seen an increase in the number of minority students participating in those classes, but it has also expanded to other schools.

He is also a mentor to students, and often assists them as they prepare for the transition to college. He has been involved in other extracurricular activities as well, most notably as head coach of the boys’ varsity soccer team and sponsor of the Black Student Union.

Of Williams, Walter Johnson High School Principal Jennifer Baker wrote: “The greatest educators are fueled by a passion and drive that cannot be stopped. They have something more that shines through in their work, and, in turn, energizes their students. I have never met a teacher more enthusiastic and determined to eliminate the achievement gap. It is his mission, heart and soul … He makes a difference in the lives of students.”

The Greenblatt Education Fund is also honoring Samir Paul, computer science teacher at Montgomery Blair High School and Kaila Wiggins, first-grade teacher at Clopper Mill Elementary School, as the 2016 Rising Star Teachers of the Year. This award honors teachers who have been teaching for less than five years whose creativity and enthusiasm encourages students to stretch themselves and achieve more.

The teachers, along with other MCPS employees and partners, will be honored for their work as part of the annual Champions for Children Awards Celebration hosted by MCPS and the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education. The MCPS Teacher of the Year will be named during the event, which will take place on Tuesday, May 3, at Wheaton High School.

Recipients of the Master Teacher Award must have five years or more of teaching experience in Montgomery County and receive a prize of $1,000. Recipients of the Rising Star Teaching Award receive $500 each.

»Photo of Andrea Segovia, Kimberly Skufca and Michael V. Williams, courtesy of Montgomery County Public Schools