Each year, Pattonville School District provides the opportunity for students, staff and parents to honor employees who make a difference through the Teacher of the Year and Support Staff of the Year recognition programs. The honorees of these programs exemplify what it means to be part of the Pattonville community. Nomination forms for the Teacher of the Year and Support Staff of the Year awards are available on the Pattonville website at www.psdr3.org/nominate and throughout the district.

Eligibility

Teacher of the Year semifinalists are judged based on the nomination forms as well as materials categorizing personal history and teaching philosophy provided by the candidate. In addition to classroom teachers, other educators, including counselors, librarians and instructional specialists, can also be nominated for this honor.

Support Staff Employee of the Year semifinalists are judged on commitment, human relations skills, loyalty, dedication and organizational/work skills related to the overall positive educational climate of Pattonville. Those who can be nominated for this category include any non-supervisory support employee. A full list is available on Pattonville’s website.

Special School District (SSD) staff at Pattonville will be eligible for building-level honors, but cannot advance to the finalist or district level due to SSD’s separate recognition program.

Process

Each staff member is notified of his or her nomination in February. From those eligible nominees, each school selects a building-level Teacher and Support Staff Employee of the Year. There will also be a district services group composed of staff from the Pattonville Learning Center and maintenance, printing and transportation departments. These building-level honorees will then continue in the process. Building-level honorees, who are semifinalists for the district-level award, will submit information to advance. Three finalists from both the Teacher and Support Staff groups will be interviewed to determine the district-level honoree. Those two honorees will be announced on May 1 during District Appreciation Night, an award and recognition program that everyone is invited to attend.

Rookie of the Year

The Rookie of the Year award was created in 2021. Staff who are serving in their first or second year and nominated for the Teacher or Support Staff of the Year award will participate in the Rookie of the Year program. These staff follow the same eligibility criteria as the Teacher and Support Staff of the Year program with the exception of service year requirements. The nomination form for all eligible nominees will be reviewed by their respective committee (teacher or support staff) and an honoree will be selected. One teacher and one support staff Rookie of the Year will be announced in April and recognized at District Appreciation Night in May.

Nominate

The deadline for submitting nomination forms for both honors is Sunday, Jan. 22. If you have any questions, please contact Gracie Wrinkle in the community relations office at wrinkleg02@psdr3.org. To learn more about staff recognition programs, please visit www.psdr3.org/nominate.