Gwinnett County's Public Schools (GCPS) leaders are one step closer to selecting their system's next Teacher of the Year.
The GCPS Teacher of the Year (TOTY) program is aligned with the state and national TOTY programs, with the educator chosen to officially serve from July 2025 through June 2026, and will apply to be the state's TOTY for the Fall of 2025.
Selection from the 25 semifinalists came from the 141 GCPS individually chosen TOTY's on Monday, November 11. The Selection Committee--which includes former TOTY's, local school administrators and central office staff members--will now have the difficult task to chose the winner from the remaining 6 finalists.
Those finalists are:
- Amber Melander, K-5 Computer Science Teacher at Patrick Elementary School (20 years in education; 7 with Gwinnett County Public Schools - GCPS)
- Katie Lessard, 4th Grade Teacher at Puckett's Mill Elementary School (20 years in education; 7 years with GCPS)
- Abby Paul, Physical Science Teacher at Berkmar Middle School (20 years in education; 5 years with GCPS)
- Sharese Colbert, Reading Enrichment Teacher at Radloff Middle School (22 years in education; 13 years with GCPS)
- Nakaya Manning, Journalism I-IV, Business Communication, Peer Leading and Mentoring and Student Leadership Teacher at Central Gwinnett High School (21 years in education; 5 with GCPS)
- Mia Johnson, Algebra Concepts and Connections Teacher at Shiloh High School (8 years in education; 3 years with GCPS)
On January 30, at 6:30 p.m., GCPS will host a celebration honoring this year's finalists and naming the top teacher in the school district. To view the full bios for the six finalists, you can go the press release online at: https://www.gcpsk12.org/news-details/~board/news-releases/post/2026-gwinnett-county-teacher-of-the-year-gwinnett-search-committee-narrows-field-to-six-finalists
