Solano County Office of Education

PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Solano County Office of Education is delighted to announce that Walter Donaldson, Jr., a mathematics teacher at Liberty High School in the Benicia Unified School District, was selected as the 2010 Solano County Teacher of the Year.

A reception honoring the Teachers of the Year selected by each Solano County school district was held at the Solano County Office of Education on Wednesday, October 14. It is an honor to be selected as the educator to represent your district for the year and an even bigger honor to represent all the teachers in Solano County in the California Teacher of the Year program. The overall purpose of the Teacher of the Year program is to pay tribute to the tireless efforts of our outstanding local teachers.

Solano County Teacher of the Year nominees were:

• Rosalynd Atherton, a sixth-grade teacher at Cooper Elementary School in the Vacaville Unified School District. Atherton has been teaching for 16 years.
• Ingrid Gustafson, a fourth grade teacher at Vacaville Christian Elementary School. Gustafson has been teaching for 10 years.
• Dianne Halsey, a seventh grade teacher at Grange Middle School in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District. Halsey has been a teacher for the past six years.
• Lauren Kaplan, a speech/language therapy teacher for the Solano County Office of Education at Foxboro Elementary in the Travis Unified School District. Kaplan has been teaching for 28 years.
• Elaine Naggi, a speech/language therapy teacher at Anderson Elementary School in the Dixon Unified School District. Naggi has been a teacher for the past 32 years.
• Matt Soughers, a physical education teacher at Travis Elementary School in the Travis Unified School District. Soughers has been teaching for 14 years. 

Congressman George Miller gave a charitable donation of $2,000 from the George Miller Youth Fund to support the Teacher of the Year program. Donaldson will receive $1,000 to use for classroom materials and supplies. The remaining $1,000 will be given to the Benicia Unified School District for use by another school in need as determined by the district.

Donaldson’s name will be forwarded to the California Department of Education to represent Solano County in a state competition later in the year where five teachers will be selected from the nominees to represent the State of California.

Video interviews of all 2010 Teacher of the Year nominees are posted on the Solano County Office of Education’s Web site at www.solanocoe.net.

# # #