Congratulations to Dana Miles, the 2023 Washington State Teacher of the Year and Veronica Gonzalez, the 2022 Washington State Classified School Employee of the Year. Dana is a Work Experience and Applied Bilingual Language Arts (BLA) Teacher at the Washington School for the Deaf, located in Vancouver, WA. Veronica is a Multilingual Student/Family Liaison in the Mount Vernon School District. Both educators will go on to compete for the national title in their respective classes, a 3rd time for classified employees and in the 58th year for teachers. You can read more about them on the
OSPI blog.
Nine regional teachers and nine classified staff are selected each year in their ESD regions and a great representation of the talented educators working in Washington state. Congratulations to our new regional teachers of the year and classified staff of the year. CSTP had the opportunity to meet them this past weekend, share our
Teacher Leadership Framework and help prepare them for their leadership journey ahead.
2023 Regional Teachers of the Year
Gina Behrens, Intervention Specialist and Instructional Coach, Seth Woodard Elementary School, West Valley School District, Northeast Educational Service District (ESD) 101
Chelsea Brannock, English Language Arts (ELA)/English Language Development (ELD) Teacher, Wahluke High School, Wahluke School District, ESD 105
Carolyn Gilman, English & Creative Writing Teacher, Olympia High School, Olympia School District, ESD 113
Linsey Kitchens, Teacher and Librarian, Sedro-Woolley High School, Sedro-Woolley School District, Northwest ESD 189
Dana Miles, Work Experience and Bilingual Language Arts (BLA) Teacher, Washington School for the Deaf, ESD 112
Shane Monroe, Fifth Grade Teacher, Wilburton Elementary, Bellevue School District, Puget Sound ESD 121
Julie Nuntananusit, English as a Second Language and Spanish Teacher, Connell High School, North Franklin School District, ESD 123
Jennifer Proiette, Kindergarten Teacher, Franklin Elementary School, Port Angeles School District, Olympic ESD 114
Hugo Zavala, 4th Grade Bilingual Teacher, Lewis and Clark Elementary, Wenatchee School District, North Central ESD 171
2022 Regional Classified School Employees of the Year
Kara Babst, Special Education Preschool Paraeducator, Eastmont School District, North Central ESD 171
Anthony Collins, Student Support and Behavior Intervention Technician, Horizon Middle School, Central Valley School District, Northeast ESD 101
Leslie DeBoer-Taggart, School Bus Driver, Centralia School District, ESD 113
Veronica Gonzalez, Multilingual Family Liaison, Mount Vernon High School, Mount Vernon School District, Northwest ESD 189
Jamie Harres, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Specialist, Cascade Middle School, Auburn School District, Puget Sound ESD 121
Jill Hendricks, Student and Family Engagement Liaison, Innovation Center, West Valley School District, ESD 105
Melinda Jones, Restorative Center Secretary, Kingston High School, North Kitsap School District, Olympic ESD 114
Stephanie Green, Administrative Assistant, Lewis & Clark Elementary, Richland School District, ESD 123
Karie Rolfe, Paraprofessional, Centerville School District, ESD 112