Woodbridge Teacher of the Year Honored in Hartford

The following is a release from the Woodbridge School District.

Jeanne Dempsey, kindergarten teacher from the Woodbridge School District, was among the 2012 Connecticut Teachers of the Year honored in Hartford recently at a ceremony held in The Bushnell. The event was attended by hundreds of supporters, families and students.

Connecticut Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor and State Board of Education President Allan B. Taylor delivered remarks about the importance of quality teachers and their role in shaping the future of the state, nation and the world. Each of the 80 local Teachers of the Year was called to the stage to receive a special citation and have their photo taken.

Blaise Messinger, a fifth-grade teacher at Cromwell’s Woodside Intermediate School, was named Connecticut’s 2013 Teacher of the Year earlier this fall.
The National Teacher of the Year (NTOY) Program began in 1952 and continues as the oldest, most prestigious national honors program that focuses public attention on excellence in teaching. In Connecticut, the program named its first Teacher of the Year in 1981 under then Commissioner of Education Mark Shedd.

Every year organizations in each state choose a worthy teacher to represent the state. The National Teacher of the Year Program, sponsored by Target, is a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers in partnership with the ING Foundation, the University of Phoenix and People to People Ambassador Programs.