On Thursday, Wayne County Public Schools will hold a “Celebration of Excellence” to honor the WCPS 2024-2025 Assistant Principal of the Year, Principal of the Year, and Teacher of the Year, as well as the finalists for those awards programs.

In addition to recognizing the school-level Teachers of the Year, WCPS will honor its 2024 Career & Technical Education Middle & High Teachers of the Year, School Counselor of the Year, and Media Coordinator of the Year. The celebration will be held at Walnut Creek Country Club at 6 p.m.

All of the district’s “of the Years” will be publicly announced for the first time at the event. With the interviews complete, finalists for the Teacher of the Year, Assistant Principal, and Principal of the Year programs have already been named – one each from the elementary, middle, and high school levels. They include:

The district’s Teacher of the Year and the Principal of the Year are part of state and national awards programs. The WCPS Assistant Principal of the Year, CTE Teachers of the Year, School Counselor of the Year and Media Coordinator of the Year are district-level awards programs that represent WCPS locally. Each program has its own nomination and selection process.

For the Teacher of the Year, Assistant Principal of the Year, and Principal of the Year programs, a district-level selection committee interviews each candidate to determine the district finalists. A follow-up interview of each finalist will then help determine who is named the “of the Year” for that program. Once named, the WCPS Teacher of the Year and Principal of the Year will move on to a regional competition, which is the next stage of the state-level competitions.

“We look forward to celebrating excellence in education and recognizing all of the various award recipients, award program finalists, and all of our school-level Teachers of the Year during this special evening of recognitions” states Dr. Yvette Smith Mason, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources & Professional Development. “We also look forward to having Kimberly Jones, outgoing 2023-2024 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, to join us as a special speaker for the evening’s recognition.”

Below is the complete list of each school-level Teacher of the Year selected to represent their school in the coming school year: