Lex 1 Names Teacher of the Year

At a special celebration Thursday night, Lexington 1 named John Paul Sellars its district-level teacher of the year. 

Sellars, who teaches fifth-grade science, mathematics, social studies and language arts at Red Bank Elementary School, now goes on to compete in the state-level Teacher of the Year program next year. 

"As teachers, the most important goal we should have is keeping our children at the forefront of every consideration when improving and strengthening education,” Sellars wrote in his application. “I want my students to see that everything we do in class has a purpose and that they can leave the classroom on any given day and make an impact with their knowledge.” 

A career changer and educator for six years, Sellars holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Presbyterian College and a Master in Divinity from Duke Divinity School. 

Sellars began his working career as a minister in 2004 and began his teaching career in 2006 in Dorchester 2 at Spann Elementary and Knightsville Elementary schools. He joined Red Bank Elementary in 2010. 

In October, staff at each Lexington One school chose a 2011–2012 school-level Teacher of the Year. Those 26 school-level Teachers of the Year completed written applications, which were judged by five teams of judges. The applications from the top two scorers from each team were then judged by a different team of judges. 

From that judging process, six were named finalists in the district-wide competition. Those finalists were Fourth-Grade Teacher Janice H. Bennett from Pleasant Hill Elementary, Second-Grade Teacher Leslie W. Bussey from Lake Murray Elementary, English Teacher Debbie G. Debenport from Lexington High, Partial-Immersion Teacher Charli T. Kinard from Gilbert Primary, Special Education Teacher Anné M. Peterson from Pleasant Hill Middle, and Sellars. 

Another panel of judges spent a day observing each of the six finalists as they taught and interviewing each finalist. 

The school-level 2011–2012 Teachers of the Year also include:

• Carolina Springs Elementary Third-Grade Teacher Carrie Geimer
• Carolina Springs Middle Seventh-Grade Mathematics Teacher Nichole Criminger
• Forts Pond Elementary Special Education Teacher Candice Garcia-Elliott
• Gilbert Elementary Lead Interventionist Colleen Pelley
• Gilbert High Science Teacher Lisa Myrick
• Gilbert Middle Spanish Teacher Laura Labrado-Sanchez
• Lexington Elementary Second-Grade Teacher Susan Kirlough
• Lexington Middle Sixth-Grade Science Teacher Paul Berrian
• Lexington Technology Center Health Science Teacher Kathryn Bailey
• Midway Elementary Second-Grade Teacher Erika Godard
• New Providence Elementary Media Specialist Valerie Byrd Fort
• Oak Grove Elementary Kindergarten Teacher Traci Yonce
• Pelion Elementary Fifth-Grade Teacher Cynthia Kussman
• Pelion High English Teacher Deborah McDermet
• Pelion Middle Eighth-Grade English/Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher Stephanie Creed
• Rocky Creek Elementary Third-Grade Teacher Jessica Buzhardt
• Saxe Gotha Elementary First-Grade Teacher Pamela Leland
• White Knoll Elementary Kindergarten Teacher Johna Buchanan
• White Knoll High Health Science Teacher Sheila Gordon
• White Knoll Middle Eighth-Grade Mathematics Teacher Leah Sarantopoulos