Maine’s best teachers honored at Cross Center

By Judy Harrison

BDN Staff

BANGOR, Maine — Teachers from across the state were honored Saturday night at the Cross Insurance Center. It was the culmination of the Maine Department of Education’s more than nine-month process to name the 2016 Teacher of the Year.

Last month, the Department of Education named Talya Edlund, a third-grade teacher at Pond Cove Elementary School in Cape Elizabeth, the winner. Edlund has been a teacher for 15 years, the past 12 in Maine, according to a previously published report.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins congratulated Edlund, the Cumberland County nominee, and the 15 other nominees in her remarks, which were emailed to the media.

“Education has been described as ‘not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a flame,’” she said. “Maine is fortunate to have so many keepers of the precious flame of learning.”

The senator also spoke about how teachers today are expected to do much more than educate students.

“Increasingly, our teachers take on responsibilities that go far beyond any job description,” Collins said. “Teachers are our trained eyes and ears for signs of abuse, drug and alcohol problems, and the modern scourge of cyberbullying.

“I know of no teachers who signed up for these difficult responsibilities when they entered the profession, but I also know of none who turns away when duty calls,” she continued. “Teachers are dedicated to opening wide the doors of opportunity. In these challenging times, that includes fighting the destructive forces that would slam them shut.

The 2015 County Teachers of the Year honored were, by county:

— Aroostook: Susan Beaulier, Ashland District School, Ashland.

— Androscoggin: Debra Miller, Raymond A. Geiger Elementary School, Lewiston.

— Franklin: Brenda LaVerdiere, Academy Hill School, Wilton.

— Hancock: Mickie Flores, Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School, Deer Isle.

— Kennebec: Gretchen Nickerson, Helen Thompson School, West Gardiner.

— Knox: Fallyn Adams, Union Elementary School, Union.

— Lincoln: Jennifer Wright Gregg, Great Salt Bay Community School, Damariscotta.

— Oxford: Laurie Catanese, Oxford Hills Middle School, South Paris.

— Penobscot: Angela McLaughlin, Asa Adams School, Orono.

— Piscataquis: Mia Morrison, Foxcroft Academy, Dover-Foxcroft.

— Sagadahoc: Johnna Stanton, Morse High School, Bath.

— Somerset: Debora Tanner, Skowhegan Middle School, Skowhegan.

— Waldo: Kathryn Foran, Leroy H. Smith School, Winterport.

— Washington: Ben Brigham, Shead High School, Eastport.

— York: Nick Wilson, Biddeford High School, Biddeford.

Morrison and LaVerdiere were finalists with Edlund for the top spot.

Maine Teacher of the Year is a Maine Department of Education program, administered by Educate Maine, a business-led organization working to ensure Maine’s students and workers are the best educated and highly skilled in the world.