Rockwall ISD Announces 2019 District Teachers of the Year

Shannon ES and Rockwall HS teachers take top honors

(ROCKWALL, TX – May 7 , 2019) Rockwall ISD is proud to announce the 2019 Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year: Sarah Weaks, third grade teacher at Shannon Elementary and Kyle Gilpin, Algebra teacher at Rockwall High School.

“Sarah has always demonstrated dedication to professional growth, as well as serving in leadership roles on our campus and on district teams as well,” said Principal Steven Pesek of Shannon Elementary. “She fights for every single child in her class, grade, and campus and is their loudest cheerleader celebrating every success.”

“Kyle teaches students who struggle passing the STAAR test and gets them to like math,” said Principal Kevin Samples of Rockwall High School. “Last year, every one of his students passed the Algebra STAAR test the first time they took it. If you ask Kyle about that, he would say, ‘I knew they could do it!’”

Thank you to our sponsors Toyota of Rockwall, Rockwall Breakfast Rotary Club, Farmers Electric Cooperative, Northstar Builders Group, Rockwall ISD Education Foundation, SSC Service Solutions, Stantec, VLK Architects and Walsh Gallegos Trevino Russo & Kyle P.C.

Each year, the district participates in the Teacher of the Year program by the Texas Association of School Administrators. This program begins at the district level with the opportunity to honor one educator from each Rockwall ISD campus for his or her ability to inspire students in innovative and creative ways. A selection committee then chooses the two winners after spending time in each classroom and interviewing each teacher.

This year’s selection committee was Doug Frank, Secondary ELA/LOTE Coordinator; Megan Humphrey, Elementary Math Coordinator; Bridgette King, Rockwall ISD 2018 Elementary Teacher of the Year; Amber Panter, Rockwall ISD 2017 Secondary Teacher of the Year; Renae Murphy, Chief Communications Officer for Rockwall ISD and Gary Piepenburg, Representative of Rockwall Breakfast Rotary.

Congratulations to Sarah Weaks and Kyle Gilpin and good luck at the Teacher of the Year regional competition.

Submitted press release.

Our monthly print edition is delivered free to ~22,000 homes in Rockwall and Heath, TX.