Poplar Road fifth grade teacher Melissa Ladd has been selected as one of five national finalists for the National Education Association’s (NEA) Horace Mann award.
The award honors dedication to the teaching profession, community engagement, professional development, attention to diversity, and advocacy for fellow educators. She was nominated for the national honor by the Georgia Association of Educators, said Coweta County School System spokesman Dean Jackson.
Ladd is in her 13th year of teaching, and has worked as a kindergarten and first grade teacher at Poplar Road. She has served as the school’s Teacher of the Year, Jackson said.
Ladd was one of 43 public educators, and the only teacher from Georgia, who will receive the California Casualty Award for Teaching Excellence at the NEA Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Education Gala next February, in Washington, D.C. As Georgia’s honoree, she travelled to Washington, D.C., last summer to interview with and teach a sample lesson to a panel of judges for the Horace Mann Award. She will be visited in her classroom by an observational team in October.
Ladd was recognized for her nomination to the national award in August by the Coweta County Board of Education. After her visit before the Horace Mann panel this summer, Ladd told board members that she was overcome with emotion.
The winner of this year’s Horace Mann award will be revealed at the awards Gala on February 10, 2017, and receive an additional $25,000. The awards gala will be livestreamed at neafoundation.org. The NEA Foundation and the National Education Association jointly present the awards.