Teacher of the Year Archive
Teacher of the Year Archive
The ACOE is honored to recognize Teachers of the Year named by county school districts and regional occupational programs.
Eighteen district-level honorees were selected by the 16 districts that have chosen to participate this year. The honorees are recognized for their individual dedication and excellence in the classroom, and they collectively represent the thousands of educators doing amazing work across Alameda County every day.
To navigate directly to a specific section, please click a link below.
36th Annual Award Winners - 2025
Click on an Honoree below to view their video.
Arthur Hogenauer
No video available for this honoree.
Varsh Jayadevan
No video available for this honoree.
Click on an Honoree below to view their video.
Arthur Hogenauer
No video available for this honoree.
Varsh Jayadevan
No video available for this honoree.
2021-Prior Honorees
2021 Award Winners
- Lori Thelen – Alameda County Office of Education (Quest & EMERGE Academics)
- Elisa Correia-Dasalla – Castro Valley Unified School District (Castro Valley Adult & Career Education)
- Lilia Tsui – Dublin Unified School District (Frederiksen Elementary School)
- Cheryl Grixti – Eden Area Regional Occupational Program
- Ashante Smith – Emery Unified School District (Anna Yates Elementary)
- Thalia McNeil-Smith – Hayward Unified School District (Brenkwitz High School)
- Christopher Filice – Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (Livermore High School)
- Chef Christopher Skrocke – Mission Valley Regional Occupational Program (Newark Memorial High School)
- Catherine Scheving – Newark Unified School District (Schilling Elementary School)
- Chantel Parnell – Oakland Unified School District (Bret Harte Middle School)
- Jessica Jung – Oakland Unified School District (Bridges Academy)
- Whitney Dwyer – Oakland Unified School District (Met West High School)
- Russel Sato – Pleasanton Unified School District (Village High School)
- Erica Viray Santos – San Leandro Unified School District (San Leandro High School)
- Sue Guinee (Posthumous) – San Lorenzo Unified School District (Arroyo High School)
- Christopher Wheeler – Sunol Glen Unified (Sunol Glen School)
- Diana Hasenpflug – Tri-Valley Regional Occupational Program (Amador Valley High School)
2020 Award Winners
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Teacher of the Year ceremony was hosted as a virtual event. Click an honoree's name below to watch their recognition video.
- Brian Dodson – Alameda Unified School District
- Jina Kim – Castro Valley Unified School District
- Nicole Meyer – Dublin Unified School District
- Bray Roman – Fremont Unified School District
- Jose Tañada – Hayward Unified School District
- Miguel Baez – Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District
- Chris Skrocke – Mission Valley Regional Occupational Program
- Ji-Yun Kim – Oakland Unified School District
- Phoebe Diamond – Oakland Unified School District
- Josh Hill – Pleasanton Unified School District
- Starla Colburn – San Leandro Unified School District
2019 Award Winners
- Paola Walker – Alameda County Office of Education
- Pauline Stahl – Alameda Unified School District
- Joshua Theo Wheeler – Castro Valley Unified School District
- Jason Ewing – Dublin Unified School District
- David Espinoza – Eden Area Regional Occupational Program
- Leslie Nuru Epstein – Emery Unified School District
- Saroda Chattopadhyay – Fremont Unified School District
- Mia Buljan – Hayward Unified School District
- Megan Clappin – Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District
- Jay E. Crawford – Mission Valley Regional Occupational Program
- Joanne Hong – Newark Unified School District
- David Ramirez – Oakland Unified School District
- Precious James – Oakland Unified School District
- Tontra Love – Oakland Unified School District
- Tessie Gonsalves – Pleasanton Unified School District
- Kathleen Maier – San Leandro Unified School District
- Jess Vaughn – San Lorenzo Unified School District
- Chris Meyer – Tri-Valley Regional Occupational Program
2018 Award Winners
- George Hoss – Alameda County Office of Education (Butler Academic Center)
- Mary Otieku – Alameda Unified School District (Bay Farm School)
- Barbara Andersen – Castro Valley Unified School District (Castro Valley High School)
- Catherine Brown – Dublin Unified School District (Frederiksen Elementary School)
- Michelle Stephens – Eden Area Regional Occupational Program (Eden Area ROP Center)
- Tiffany Johnson – Emery Unified School District (Anna Yates Elementary School)
- Sherea Westra – Fremont Unified School District (Niles Elementary School)
- Kyle Howard – Hayward Unified School District (Hayward High School)
- Elizabeth Perez – Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (Arroyo Seco Elementary School)
- Dhana Uppula – Mission Valley Regional Occupational Program (James Logan High School)
- Legratta Banks – New Haven Unified School District (Tom Kitayama Elementary School)
- Timothy Hess – Newark Unified School District (Newark Memorial High School)
- Cassandra Chen – Oakland Unified School District (United for Success Academy)
- Micaela Morse – Oakland Unified School District (International Community School)
- Jah-Yee Woo – Oakland Unified School District (Oakland Technical High School)
- Arlene Simpelo – Pleasanton Unified School District (Lydiksen Elementary School)
- Joanna Chapman – San Leandro Unified School District (McKinley Elementary School)
- Ann Villegas – San Lorenzo Unified School District (Hillside Elementary School)
- Kelly Mogilefsky – Tri-Valley Regional Occupational Program (Las Positas College)