The District Teacher of the Year and Employee of the Year was announced at the Annual Gala Event on January 12, 2012 at 6:00p.m. at the Flagler Auditorium.   Congratulations to Sarah Poppe, Teacher of the Year and Barbara Korn, Employee of the Year!  

Sarah Poppe graduated in 2003 from The College of New Jersey with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Education and began teaching high school English.  After moving to Florida she continued her education and earned a Masters degree in Reading from Nova Southeastern University, while teaching full-time.   For the past 6 years she has worked at Flagler Palm Coast High School (FPC) teaching Intensive Reading, English, and for the last five years, held the Reading Coach position.  Sarah shares that the first day she began setting up her make-believe classroom in the garage, her mother knew that teaching was Sarah's calling in life.  After only a few moments in front of a real audience, it was clear to Sarah that she was right.  "The last nine years have been challenging, rewarding, and ultimately have made me who I am today", says Sarah.   "I believe that as an educator one must never stop learning; therefore, for the past three years I have been pursuing a Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Northcentral University.  I am blessed to have a loving husband to support my educational goals, who also teaches at FPC. Being pregnant with twins, we are both looking forward to welcoming two new Bulldogs to our family this spring!" 

Barbara Korn began her work in education as an instructional assistant for a full time Specific Learning Disabilities (English & Social Studies) class in the Palm Beach County School District in 1976.  She looped with that class for the next four years and her love of teaching was cemented.  In 1980, she was hired as a permanent substitute teacher in a full time Learning Disabilities (Math & Science) class. She changed careers for a short time and then returned to school to complete her student teaching, and earned her degree in 2004 as a Sum Cum laude graduate and began teaching.  Barbara says since finding her current job as a VPK Instructor for Adult Education Early Childhood Center, she has fallen in love with Early Childhood Education and found a new home.  

The 2011-2012 Teachers and Support-Related Employees of the Year  have been selected from each of the district's schools and departments.  The 11 Teacher candidates and 17 Support Employee candidates, nominated by their peers from their schools and departments, submitted an application packet that was reviewed and scored by a panel of selected experts in the field of education.