Latrece Brown was named the 2017 Florida Blue Duval County Teacher of the Year on Friday night at the 26th Annual EDDY Awards.
Brown, a fourth-grade math and science teacher at Andrew Robinson Elementary School, was selected from nominees from each of Duval County's 173 public schools.
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"The passion, dedication and commitment to excellence our teachers show every day as they strive to help students excel in the classroom and in life are the best examples of service to improve our communities and the outcomes for children regardless of their obstacles," said Duval County school superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti.
Brown, who is a lead teacher at her school, is passionate about learning, and her students and colleagues say it shines through the former cheerleader every day. Brown is known not only as a data guru, but for her innovative approaches to parent involvement. She started a Facebook group for parents and students, going live each week to model strategies, review commonly missed questions and help parents understand the new approach to teaching math, all in real time.
As Duval County's Teacher of the Year, Brown will go on to compete for the statewide title.
The EDDY Awards teacher of the year program is an initiative of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, and a year-long effort to celebrate and elevate Duval County's best public school educators.
In addition to the Teacher of the Year, the EDDY Awards included a presentation of the Community First Innovation Prize. The winner was Susan Burns, a teacher at Fishweir Elementary School, who was recognized for the creativity of her project, called "One Teacher's Trash," aimed at reducing waste in the classroom while encouraging student entrepreneurship.