The three finalists

in the annual Coweta County Teacher of the Year program have been chosen.

They are Bob Lutz, sixth-grade science teacher at Arnall Middle School;

Dale Sizemore, art teacher at Newnan High School, and Anne Storey, resource

teacher at East Coweta Middle School.

The finalists

and Teachers of the Year from all Coweta schools will be honored by the

Board of Education and the Pilot Club of Newnan at a special awards ceremony

May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Newnan Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall. Friends

and family are welcome to attend, where all school TOTYs will be honored

and this year's Coweta County TOTY will be announced.

Following the

ceremony, the Pilot Club will hold a reception for the teachers and their

families and friends. The Pilot Club and Board of Education also present

awards to the teachers as do program sponsors, the Times-Herald and Regions

Bank.

Teachers of

the Year are chosen by their peers - by their fellow teachers at the school

level, and as finalists by last year's county Teachers of the Year. From

the three finalists, the Coweta County Teacher of the Year is chosen by

a committee of three from outside the school system who observe the finalists

in their classrooms and interview them.

Committee members

this year are Georgia Evans, school improvement specialist for West Georgia

Regional Educational Service Agency; Joe Ann Hanson, retired Coweta County

School System teacher and principal; and Sandra Hinton, principal of Whitesburg

Elementary School in Carroll County.

The 2002 Teachers

of the Year from each school are: Bobbi Deling, second grade, Arbor Springs;

Bob Lutz, sixth grade, Arnall Middle; Kelly Smith, fourth grade, Arnco-Sargent;

Elizabeth Terrell, first grade, Atkinson; Amy Vickery, third grade, grade

chair, Canongate; Lynne Dodds, business education, Central Educational

Center; Anne Storey, resource, East Coweta Middle; Caroline Parsell, special

education, East Coweta High; Gloria Smoot, fifth grade, Eastside; Debbie

Stripling, fourth grade, Elm Street; Josette Carlisle, Kindergarten, Jefferson

Parkway; Jenny Gloer, gifted science, Madras Middle; Louise Morrison,

pre-kindergarten, Maggie Brown;Tracy Myatt, third grade, Moreland; Kristal

Petersen, second grade, Newnan Crossing; Dale Sizemore, art, Newnan High;

Shirley Porter, special education, Northgate High; Paula B. Baker, fifth

grade, Northside; Susan Heard, eighth grade language arts, O.P. Evans

Middle; Jim Schuyler, third grade, Poplar Road; Ruth Cooper, computer

lab, Ruth Hill; Bill Wilbert, eighth grade Georgia history, Smokey Road

Middle; Linda Grabill, first grade, Thomas Crossroads; Joy Knight, resource,

Western; Montie Strickland, third grade, White Oak; Polly Craft, high

school English and literature, Winston Dowdell Academy.

Coweta's top

2001 teacher, Lorraine Johnson, was recently named Georgia's 2003 Teacher

of the Year. She is the third state Teacher of the Year to be named from

Coweta County Schools.

Teachers of

the Year are selected for the quality of their teaching, professional

development, teaching philosophy and methods, community involvement, and

contributions to education. The Coweta County Teacher of the Year always

serves as the county's nominee for Georgia Teacher of the Year.