York Town News
And then there were three...
Deb Bradburn advances to finals for 2006 Maine Teacher of the Year
By Jennifer L. Saunders
Coastal Ridge Elementary School teacher Deb Bradburn, pictured above at work with fourth-grade student Samantha Ferland before the end of the school year in April, has been selected as one of three finalists for Maine's Teacher of the Year.
Photo by Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - "We're just ecstatic."
Those were the words Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione used to describe the news he received when he arrived at the office on Tuesday morning: York's own Deb Bradburn is one of the final three candidates for Maine Teacher of the Year 2006.
Bradburn, who teachers fourth grade at Coastal Ridge Elementary School, had waited all weekend to hear whether she would be one of the three finalists after completing the portfolio presentation portion of the process at the University of Maine in Orono last week.
The call did not come.
On Monday morning, Bradburn said, she went out for a walk, and returned to find a message on her answering machine.
"I was so excited when I got the call yesterday morning," she said Tuesday. "We were supposed to hear sometime over the weekend, and the weekend had come and gone."
Bradburn is scheduled to be in Augusta today, Wednesday, Aug. 2, for the final part of the selection process: an interview session by six former Maine Teachers of the Year.
"We don't know what the questions are," she explained, "but as the Teacher of the Year is going to be an ambassador, they're probably looking at how you are on the spot and at your commitment."
Commitment, both Scipione and Coastal Ridge Principal Jane Stephenson said, is something Bradburn exemplifies in all that she does.
"It's basically her passion and her strong desire in her whole profession of teaching that will come across," Stephenson said of the impromptu interview part of the selection process. "It's better that it's this way rather than to be rehearsed."
As Scipione put it in commenting on Bradburn's selection as one of the final three candidates for the honor, "I can't say that we're surprised, because clearly we know her caliber and the kind of person she is. I wasn't surprised, but just ecstatic that she's reached this level."
Stephenson agreed, describing Bradburn's commitment to education and her diligence in preparing for the various stages of the Teacher of the Year review process.
"She worked hours and hours on it," Stephenson said.
Bradburn, however, was quick to point out the support she has received from the York School Department staff.
"I got so much help from Karen Norton, Mo Goering and my colleagues - whether it was to edit my writing or to brainstorm or just give me advice. It took a lot of work. I just lived at school the past two weeks," she said, adding she learned a lot about technology through the assistance of Technology Director Gregg Martin as she worked on her presentation for last week's event at the University of Maine.
Bradburn said she was able to watch the presentations of the other five semi-finalists and could not imagine how the 10 anonymous Teacher of the Year judges would narrow that field down to three.
On Tuesday morning, Bradburn said she was just so happy to be counted in the company of such quality teachers.
"I am supposed to represent the York Schools and I had a lot of people involved in that process," Bradburn said of the experience so far. "We certainly put in the effort, whether we go all the way or not."
And, when she returns from Augusta on Wednesday, she said, she and her husband will be able to enjoy a special evening at the Wentworth by the Sea, thanks to a generous gift from the students in her class of this past year.
After that, the waiting game will begin, as the 2006 Maine Teacher of the Year will not be announced until September.
"She's just such a deserving person of this," Scipione said, "and if she doesn't make it to Teacher of the Year, to have made it to this point is just an incredible honor."
