Friday, May 22, was the last day of school for teachers in Marietta Public Schools. They
could relax, knowing they’d finished another year and were on their way to a nice, well-
earned summer vacation.
But for several teachers in the district, Friday was a really great day because they were
awarded some extra cash to make their summer vacation even sweeter.
District Superintendent Brandi Naylor awarded more than $100,000 – funded by the
state to help with recruiting and retaining teachers – to those teachers who chose to
participate in the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Teacher Empowerment
Award system.
To apply for the system, classroom teachers must follow a clear, structured process to
demonstrate their achievements in student growth, leadership responsibilities,
professional development, collaboration and innovation, school culture, and student
engagement. In addition to these criteria, applying teachers were required to serve
additional contracted days, which have been a big help to principals who used them to
work on new systems and needs for the upcoming year.
Teacher Empowerment is available only to teachers and counselors who work directly
with students and have received an overall rating of highly effective or superior on their
most recent teacher evaluation. Applications were submitted and evaluated based on a
rubric system that ranked them based on the criteria listed above.
When all was said and done, teachers received stipends in one of three categories:
advanced, lead, and master. Teachers who scored advanced received $4,500, while
lead teachers and master teachers received $7,500 and $15,000, respectively.
The salary for a teacher just starting their career hovers just north of $40,000, so any of
those awards matches a giant percentage of what they earn annually. And even for a
career teacher, let’s face it: $15,000 is nothing to sneeze at. That would buy a lot of
school clothes or part of a car – maybe even a really nice vacation.
Teachers receiving the $4,500 advanced award were Kacie Bone, Kellie Burke
JasMarie McCarroll, Danielle Neble, Brittany Presley, and Stacy Scarbrough.
Mischelle Brown, Aimee Burchfield, Augustus Smith, and Jessica Wolfe received
$7,500 for the lead award.
And the $15,000 master award went to Courtney Starsick-Anderson, Erin Hansen,
Jaime Hartman, Eric Gallaway, and Heather McMahon.
“We are incredibly proud to recognize our Teacher Empowerment Award recipients and
celebrate the outstanding work happening in our classrooms each day,” said Naylor.
“Our teachers go above and beyond to inspire, support, and empower students, and we
are grateful for the difference they make in the lives of children and our school
community.
This is the second year that MPS has participated in the program.