Here are the nominees for Delaware Teacher of the Year

The 2025 Delaware Teacher of the Year will be announced at a ceremony Oct. 15.

The premier teacher in the First State will be named next month. 

On Oct. 15, the state will announce the 2025 Delaware Teacher of the Year. 

All 19 school districts will nominate a teacher, who submits a detailed application exemplifying their teaching philosophy. 

One teacher will represent the state’s 24 charter schools.

Five Delaware Department of Education staff members and five former state teachers of the year independently evaluate each application, and a former state teacher of the year and department staff member observe each candidate in the classroom.

Taking into consideration the scores from the application review and observations as well as a recorded presentation by the nominees, another independent panel of non-department judges then recommends to the Secretary of Education the one teacher who will serve as the 2025 Delaware Teacher of the Year.

That teacher is Delaware’s representative in the national program.

The winner gets a $5,000 grant to use for the educational benefit of his or her students and a personal grant of $3,000.  

All nominees get $2,000 from the state.

Last year, Cory Hafer from Appoquinimink School District’s Middletown High, was named teacher of the year. 

Here are this year’s candidates: 

Appoquinimink: Tamara Walker of Redding Middle (mathematics)

Brandywine: Janette Madison of Springer Middle (mathematics)

Caesar Rodney: Kaysi Anderson of Simpson Elementary (fourth grade)

Cape Henlopen: Kristin (Krissy) Patton of Milton Elementary (literacy)

Capital: Abdallah Celestin of Dover High (French)

Charter Network: Stephanie Sherman of Sussex Academy (science)

Christina: Stacey DiIenno of Marshall Elementary (kindergarten)

Colonial: Shelby Borst of William Penn High (social studies)

Delmar: Ashley Bennett of Delmar Middle (mathematics)

Indian River: Deborah Treherne of Howard T. Ennis School (special education)

Lake Forest: Brent E. Carter of Chipman Middle (English language arts)

Laurel: Joseph Wenke of Laurel High (English language arts)

Milford: Diana Dill of Mispillion Elementary (first grade)

New Castle County Vo-Tech: Bradford Paik of Howard High School of Technology (science)

POLYTECH: Emily Green of POLYTECH High (social studies)

Red Clay Consolidated: Kristen Tosh-Morelli of Forest Oak, Johnson, Marbrook and Richey elementary schools (band)

Seaford: Brent Evans of Central Elementary (fourth grade)

Smyrna: Lauren Steerman of Sunnyside Elementary (kindergarten)

Sussex Technical: Meghan Feliciani of Sussex Technical High (English language arts)

Woodbridge: Kelly Ruse of Woodbridge High (art)

Click here for photos of each nominee.

Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.

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