An English learner teacher from the Red Clay Consolidated School District is Delaware’s 2021 State Teacher of the Year.

Kimberly Stock of McKean High School now is Delaware’s nominee for National Teacher of the Year. She will use her position to share her message about how schools must adapt to give students equitable access and opportunities.

Secretary of Education Susan Bunting made the announcement by surprising family and colleagues gathered at McKean High to view the virtual celebration at a socially distanced watch party. The virtual celebration honored all 20 district and charter teachers of the year who, due to COVID-19 precautions, watched the televised and streamed broadcast at small gatherings across the state instead of joining together at the typical statewide banquet.

Stock’s passion for supporting students who face difficult challenges comes from her own life experiences. Abandoned as a child in South Korea, Stock said she does not know her age, birth place or given name.

“After living with a foster family in Korea, I was adopted by a white family in Nebraska. Despite experiencing moments of trauma, racism, illness, loss and death caused by ethnic violence, I have been given new opportunities and second chances,” she said. “Only through God’s grace and many opened doors by people who believed in me do I stand here today.”

Now Stock tries to be the one opening those doors for her students, starting by better preparing her colleagues to instruct them.

“We must provide moments for our most vulnerable students to shine. When I surveyed staff about their training in English learner teaching methods, few said they had ever taken even one class. Meanwhile our EL population has grown over 81 percent in the last five years at McKean, making everyone a teacher of English learners,” Stock said.

Stock, who teaches Advanced Placement Literature and Composition and 11^th grade English language arts, manages the language acquisition plans for more than 160 McKean students. She executed a new program and curriculum that serves more students with rigorous grade-level material resulting in 100 percent of McKean’s English learners graduating in 2020. She continues to provide regular professional development to McKean staff about EL teaching methods.

One current student said Stock was instrumental in helping her adjust to McKean when she arrived two years ago: “I came from the Dominican Republic and at that time, I didn’t know how to communicate with my teachers or even how to start a conversation with my classmates. I felt different from the students at school because I did not know if they were being nice or mean to me, and that was something that sometimes makes me feel down, but also it pushed me to be more confident and learn English faster. Mrs. Stock went to my EL class one day, and at that moment I knew she was and is an amazing person. She does everything to make her students comfortable and happy in her class.”

Making sure every student at her school feels safe and accepted is important to Stock.

“Our schools must immediately communicate that it’s a safe space for our students of color, our LGBTQ students and for our students of diverse faiths,” Stock said. “At different points in my education and life, certain teachers let me know that I mattered. They taught me – sometimes through words but more often by example – that a teacher can not only impart knowledge but also be a champion for her students.”

Her career in education as both a teacher and education non-profit administrator includes work at Claymont Community Center, where she secured partnerships with school districts, non-profits and government agencies to create a new adult basic education and GED program. The adult English as a Second Language program more than doubled immigrant students served.

Stock earned her Bachelor of Science from the University of Nebraska and her first Master of Science in education from the University of Pennsylvania, where she researched the recruitment and retention of teachers and administrators of color. Her second graduate degree, a Master of Arts in teaching English as a second language from the University of Delaware, resulted in a proposed curriculum for a Methods of Teaching English Learners course for all new Delaware teachers.

As an advocate for students, Stock also is a diversity champion for her school and community, speaking on panels, serving on social justice committees and leading professional development while empowering student leadership through the Student Voices and Cultural Celebrations Advisories.

Stock inherits from outgoing Teacher of the Year Rebecca Vitelli the responsibility of representing all teachers in Delaware. She will address community groups, business leaders, legislators, and educational organizations to inform the public about the status of Delaware schools. She also will become Delaware’s candidate in the National Teacher of the Year Program, a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers sponsored by the Voya Foundation.

By action of the General Assembly, she will receive a $5,000 grant to use for the educational benefit of her students, as well as two personal grants totaling an additional $5,000. The remaining 19 school district/charter candidates each will receive a personal grant of $2,000. All 20 teachers also received gifts from Advantech Incorporated and their district superintendents or charter principal.

Stock also will receive gifts from the Delaware State Education Association, Delaware School Boards Association, Delaware Association of School Administrators and Delaware State Teachers of the Year Association; State of Delaware Teacher of the Year commemorative plates from the Division of Motor Vehicles; a full doctorate program from Wilmington University; a 10-karat gold ring from Jostens; and lunch in Washington D.C. with U.S. Sen. Tom Carper.

This year’s celebration was sponsored in part by Voya Financial.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Those interested in arranging interviews with Stock on Wednesday should contact Red Clay Consolidated School District public information officer Taylor Green at Taylor.Green@redclay.k12.de.us.

Watch the virtual celebration and announcement online here. Photos of Stock being named Delaware’s 2021 Teacher of the Year are available here.

Find information on all 20 nominees here.

Twenty of the state’s top teachers will be honored at a banquet next month, when one of them will be named Delaware’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.

The winner will be announced at the annual award dinner on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at the Dover Downs Hotel and Casino in Dover. Funding for the award ceremony is made in part by a grant from Voya Financial. The program begins at 6 p.m. with the announcement coming at the end of the night.

The candidates were nominated by their districts or the charter network during the 2019 calendar year because of their superior ability to inspire students with a love of learning, exemplary demonstration of professional traits and strong sense of dedication and devotion to teaching.

Twenty Delaware teachers are finalists to be named Delaware’s 2020 State Teacher of the Year.

Selected from among the 9,000 public school teachers in the state, the candidates were nominated by their districts or the Delaware Charter School Network because of their ability to inspire students with a love of learning, demonstration of professional traits and devotion to teaching. Already leaders among the colleagues in their buildings, each now has assumed a role representing educators in their districts or the charter network. In October, one will take over the state title from 2019 Delaware Teacher of the Year Dana Bowe, a special education teacher at West Seaford Elementary in the Seaford School District.

The 2020 District/Charter Teachers of the Year are:

District/Charters       Name                                     School                                   Content area

Appoquinimink           Stephen Landry                   Appoquinimink High             Mathematics

Brandywine               Lauren Conrad                     Concord High                       Music (vocal)

Caesar Rodney         Sabra Collins                        Caesar Rodney High          Physical education

Cape Henlopen          Brennan Clarke                    Shields Elementary             English as a second language

Capital                       Erica Richard                        East Dover Elementary       K-4 mathematics specialist

Charters                     Kayla Sweet                          Kuumba Academy               6^th grade mathematics

Christina                    Lindsey Muldoon                 Shue Medill Middle              8^th grade English language arts

Colonial                     Rebecca Vitelli                     Colwyck Center                    Prekindergarten

Delmar                       Donna Huston                      Delmar High                         English language arts

Indian River              Arthur Henry                         Millsboro Middle                   Music (band)

Lake Forest               Christina Hughes-Gallo      Lake Forest High                 Social studies

Laurel                         Donna Sava                          Laurel Elementary               1^st grade

Milford                        Jaime Hill                              Morris Elementary               Kindergarten

NCCVT                      Anthony Webb                     Delcastle High                      Mathematics

POLYTECH              Nick Post                               POLYTECH High                 Electrical trades technology

Red Clay                   Richard Weaver                   AI duPont High                    Music (band)

Seaford                      Laura Burke                          Central Elementary              3^rd grade

Smyrna                      Denise Balcerak                   Sunnyside Elementary       Kindergarten

Sussex Tech             Dontez Collins                      Sussex Tech High               Mathematics

Woodbridge              Stephanie Vodvarka            Wheatley Elementary          4^th grade

Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006

Editor’s note: This Take Note guest post is written by Jinni Forcucci, a Sussex Technical High School English language arts teacher and the 2018 Delaware Teacher of the Year. (Photo credit: Shannon Marvel McNaught/Gatehouse Delaware.) 

My family and I live in Rehoboth Beach, DE, and spend each summer visiting our favorite spots along the Atlantic Ocean in Sussex County. Attracted to the tides, the waves, the calm and the consistency of the water’s presence, my sons, my husband and I use these spaces to laugh, to exercise, to commune and to reflect.

One of my most treasured memories of our time on the beach, however, occurred when my youngest son was about five or six. After spending almost an hour sitting on the jetty rocks, looking out over the horizon, Cooper made his way back to where my husband and I sat. My husband, always the consummate observer, could tell that Cooper had something on his mind, so he asked him what he’d been thinking about as he sat on those rocks overlooking the seascape. Through his bleached blond eyelashes, my kiddo looked at us and said, “You know that line where the sea meets the sky? I thought about what I’d find if I went there.”

This past year, as Delaware’s 2018 Teacher of the Year, I feel like I had the chance to visit the space my son imagined on that summer day: the space where inspiration and curiosity abound, where challenges and experiences prompt self-discovery and untapped strength, where sunrises offers a new opportunity to make a difference, and sunsets prompt the rest and reflection necessary to keep doing the important work that benefits the children in our schools and in our communities.

After overcoming the initial shock of being named DE STOY (and please know that I still struggle with imposter syndrome when in the company of so many exemplary educators in our state and from around the nation), I began my journey toward fearless leadership and increased advocacy. And while I’ve always valued and embraced these skills, employing them on a state-wide level was completely new. Former TOYs like Wendy Turner (2017), Sandra Hall (2016), and Megan Szabo (2015) were just a few of the teacher leaders who tried to ready me for the year in store. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for my first meeting held by the CCSSO – The Council of Chief State School Officers in California with the 2018 National Teachers of the Year cohort.

The whole experience was nutso. I’m serious. I was hanging with educational professionals who’d already written and published books, who’d led for racial equity on a national stage, whose impressive resumes made me feel like a Shetland pony in the Kentucky Derby. I had so much to learn from these compassionate, innovative, and gloriously welcoming hearts belonging to educators I now call dear friends and confidantes.

Exhausting and transformative, my time in California solidified what I already knew about this noble profession: teachers are total and absolute rock stars who need more resources and support to help students thrive, and ALL learners benefit when ALL perspectives are valued. Why, then, did I need to go to all the way to CA if I already understood the goals CCSSO was trying to fulfill? Because when one is truly valued, when professional development is housed at Google (that place is magical… for real), when collaboration results in a nation-wide push for equitable outcomes, when heartfelt tears and giggles, that can make your bones hurt, start and end each day, one feels like she just might be able to change the world. So, I came back to our state, and I was ready. Ready to lead DE schools in a direction that embraces culturally responsive teaching and implement strategies that deny institutionalized racism.

In my past 22 years as an English teacher, I’ve committed myself to cultural proficiency as I’ve devoted my days to listening and learning from the valuable voices in my classroom. Fostering an environment that encourages individual truths and communal acceptance, I rejoice when students deny and overcome, with tremendous strength, the pervasive biases that injure and often halt the progress of our Black and Brown children. And while we celebrate growth and progress, there is work to be done.

Supporting me each step of the way this year, DOE’s beloved and devoted TOY coordinator Chris Kenton graciously drove me all over the state as I spoke to pre-service teachers, worked with doctoral candidates, presented to the House and the Senate, trained with DOE staff, and advocated for necessary training in my own district. I’ve also had the indelible pleasure of learning from the influential and tireless commitments of racial equity leaders like Faye Blake, Jacques Bowe and Maria Stecker. Their vital contributions change lives, for they know that the equity lens is the tool that all district, building and teacher leaders must look through when dismantling the systems that have historically hurt our youth. And please know that if this lens is ignored, we will continue to blindly dismiss so many beautiful hearts and minds that have so very much to offer.

In October, I will attend the DE STOY banquet that names the next winner of this humbling award. I will offer advice to the blessed educator who is in for a life-changing year, and publicly thank the state for bestowing this incredible honor on me, a gal from Felton, DE who loves books and yoga and belly laughs. I will leave that banquet with my sons and my husband, knowing that it is my responsibility to help every child visit her/his version of Cooper’s horizon. And I will wake up the next morning, ready to learn and grow from the kiddos who await me in room 837.

For more information on the great things happening in schools across Delaware, sign up to receive Take Note: Education in the First State at http://www.doe.k12.de.us/takenote. Take Note is published the final Wednesday of each month.