Hopatcong Teacher Wins $25K NEA Award

Danielle Kovach was almost speechless.

The Hopatcong third-grade special education teacher never thought she would win the $25,000 National Education Association Member Benefit Teaching Excellence award. So she didn't prepare a speech.

But when Kovach's named was called, the stunned teacher quickly composed herself and ran through a laundry list of thank-yous before 900 people at a gala at the National Buildings Museum in Washington, D.C., Friday night.

"I was in shock," said Kovach, who became one of five finalists for the prize when Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence.

Kovach New Jersey Teacher of the Year in 2011 and has since racked up a trove of teaching awards and rubbed shoulders with , Gov. Chris Christie and other government and educational leaders.

Hopatcong schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano called Kovach's win "great news."

"Danielle is an exceptional teacher," he said. "Hopatcong is extremely proud of her. I thin she's representative of her colleagues in Hopatcong and it places Hopatcong public schools on a platform thanks to her dedication and hard work.

"There are some great teachers doing some incredible things in Hopatcong and they rarely get the credit."

Judges placed Kovach under a lengthy evaluation before granting her the honor, requiring the Roxbury resident to write several essays before an in-person interview and lesson to judges.

Kovach said the lesson she delivered to the judges on reading comprehension and writing—during which she asked each of the judges to pretend they had a disability so each could understand the challenges her students face—was nerve-wracking.

"I had mixed feelings after it," she said. "They didn't have a SMART Board for me to use and all of my lessons are done on a SMART Board. I had to work around it. But I felt like I did the best I could."

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