20th Annual Weston Awards Handed Out To Top Teachers

Sixteen teachers representing all public schools in the district received an award Monday night that is recognized as a definitive declaration of excellence.

For the 20th year in a row, local philanthropists Josh and Judy Weston handed out awards to exceptional teachers nominated by parents and chosen by a committee of parents and PTA members. Winning a Weston Award includes a monetary gift of $2,000 and does not disqualify teachers from winning other awards from other sources in the same year.

This year the 16 winners were chosen out of a pool of hundreds of nominees.

In presenting the awards, Judy Weston read something about each teacher called up before the Monday night school board meeting, overflowing with people.

She described one as displaying a positive attitude that's contagious. She said another is "generous with compliments." Still another is warm, caring, while emailing the students weekly. Another makes "complicated material real and relevant."

One teacher at Mount Hebron, Michele Kinnas, was praised for having her class sew and stuff teddy bears for children in foster care in Essex County.

Judy Weston mentioned that this year marked the 20th year the Weston Awards have been presented.

"There's still a little left in the bank so we'll go as long as we can," she said to a round of laughter.

The administration of The Judy and Josh Weston Award for Excellence in Teaching is exclusively by parents. Nominations for the Weston Award are solicited from students, parents, and guardians of students currently attending the Montclair public schools. This year, the committee received over 400 nominations with 175 teaches nominated. A selection committee of parent representatives from each school along with Judy Weston, selected the award recipients.

The recipients of this year’s Weston Award for Excellence in Teaching are:

Barry Schwartz, Special Education, Glenfield Middle School
Tracey Wolfson, Special Education, Glenfield School
Deborah Stickle, Science, Glenfield Middle School
Susan Cowan, Third Grade, Bullock School
Sung Hyuk-Park, Music, Hillside
Elyse Hoffman, Special Education, Hillside
Carole Jecki, Global Studies, Northeast
Anna Passamano, Fifth Grade, Edgemont
Michele Kinnas, Language Arts, Mount Hebron
Marie Magi, Special Education, Mount Hebron
Denise Macaluso, Third Grade, Bradford
Dana Spagnuolo, Music, Renaissance Middle School
Melissa Buttiglieri, Second Grade, Watchung
Grace Ko, First Grade, Nishuane
Anna Panchekha, Science, Montclair High School
Courtney Ricca, Science, Montclair High School