Eleven finalists have been named for the 2024 Minnesota Teacher of the Year award, an annual honor bestowed by Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers union.
Education Minnesota announces finalists for 2024 Teacher of the Year award
The annual honor given by the teachers union will be presented during a banquet on May 5 in St. Paul.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
April 9, 2024 at 3:04PM
The teachers were selected from a group of 27 semifinalists and will be interviewed by a selection panel a day before the May 5 award ceremony in St. Paul.
The finalists are:
Rachel Betterley, a secondary visual arts teacher at North Woods School in the St. Louis County school district
Rebecca Buck, a music teacher at Gideon Pond Elementary School in Burnsville
Tracy Byrd, a ninth-grade English language arts teacher at Washburn High School in Minneapolis
Susanne Collins, a sixth-grade teacher at Edgerton Elementary School in Roseville
Sarah Dallum, a fifth-grade teacher at Valley View Elementary School in Bloomington
Marie Hansen, a 10th- and 11th-grade AVID/English teacher at Burnsville High School
Laura Jensen, a seventh-grade language and literature teacher at Hopkins North Middle School
Jason Jirsa, a social studies teacher at Washburn High School in Minneapolis
Michelle Morse-Wendt, a fourth-grade teacher at Turtle Lake Elementary School in Shoreview
Jamie Williams, a seventh-grade U.S. history teacher at Capitol Hill Gifted and Talented Magnet in St. Paul
Ellen Wu, a kindergarten teacher at Alice Smith Elementary in Hopkins.
The 2024 Teacher of the Year award will be presented by last year’s winner, Michael Houston of Harding High School in St. Paul, at the May 5 banquet at the RiverCentre in St. Paul.
All public and private school teachers working in prekindergarten through high school, early childhood family education and adult basic education teachers are eligible to be nominated.
The governor said it may be 2027 or 2028 by the time the market catches up to demand.
