Christie Brown chosen Teacher of the Year

It’s an unusual event when the person chosen Ponca City Teacher of the Year doesn’t come to the banquet. In fact, Thursday night may be the only time it has occurred in the history of the banquet.

The 2015-16 Teacher of the Year, Christie Brown, is exceptional, as her absence proved. A year ago, she had made plans to take her own children to a music festival in San Antonio, Texas. The family started saving money and scheduling the time off in order to attend.

Brown said she didn’t really expect to win, and in any case, she was committed to the trip with her family.

She recorded a message for the banquet, just on the off chance she won. She even tried to convince her fellow teachers at Liberty Elementary to choose someone else, because she would not be in town. They would hear nothing of that plan and chose her anyway.

The video message was not the only use of technology at the banquet. After Brown’s win was announced, the Liberty teachers pulled out a cell phone and set up a Facetime chat with her. She was able to speak to Dr. David Pennington, school superintendent, to hear the good news straight from the top.

Chris Adams, Broadcast Engineer and Mary Ladd, Media/Community Relations Coordinator, also used technology to create the media presentation for the banquet, showing each of the site teachers in their classrooms with their students. This year’s theme was "Teach Like a Pirate." Each of the teachers were given a pirate name that reflected their teaching.

Each of the site teachers were presented gifts from the Friends of Education and the School Board.

Jennifer Dye and Don Larson also were finalists for Teacher of the Year.