Education Spotlight

Music teacher named district’s 2020 Teacher of the Year

David Martinez-Cooley, a music teacher at Leila G. Davis Elementary, has been named Pinellas County Schools’ 2020 Teacher of the Year. The award was presented Wednesday night during the Evening of Excellence at Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. All 131 nominees were also recognized at the event.

Martinez-Cooley has worked with the Pinellas County Schools for more than 12 years. He earned Master’s degrees in Music Education and Mathematics Education from the University of Florida. Martinez-Cooley is a recognized leader among Pinellas music educators. He serves on the district’s textbook adoption committee to choose new digital resources for the district’s elementary music students and he helped with revising and refining the district’s grade level key learnings. He has a very successful music program at the school and that success is due to his willingness to always find new and unique ways of engaging his general music students.

David Martinez-Cooley will now represent the district in the state Teacher of the Year competition sponsored by the Florida Department of Education.

District names inaugural Emerging Teachers of the Year

Courtney Titcomb, a first-grade teacher at Azalea Elementary School, and Olivia Crawford, a language arts teacher at Largo Middle School, were named the district’s inaugural Emerging Teachers of the Year.

Olivia Crawford, a language arts teacher at Largo Middle School, named secondary Emerging Teacher of the Year.

The Emerging Teacher of the Year program brings recognition to exemplary new teachers who are

Courtney Titcomb, a first-grade teacher at Azalea Elementary Schooi, named Emerging Teacher of the Year for elementary.

in their second or third year of teaching. These teachers have demonstrated excellence through representation of the district’s core values. Two teachers are selected, one from elementary and one from secondary.

Titcomb and Crawford, along with district teachers, were celebrated at the annual Evening of Excellence on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.

Student artworks on display at the Dunedin Fine Art Center

More than 100 elementary school students were honored on this past January for having their artworks selected for the Creative Start Elementary Schools Exhibit. The exhibit, which features art by students from schools beginning with the letters A-M, are on display at the Dunedin Fine Art Center. Congratulations to all of the PCS students chosen for the exhibit and our student award winners!

Award of Merit: Daria Proykova, Academie DaVinci Dylan Meyer, Brooker Creek Elementary Dieudonne Sathoud, Fairmount Park Elementary

Honorable Mention: Kayla Bell, Melrose Elementary Remy Boomgarden, Lake St. George Elementary Jesus Baltazor-Lopez, Belleair Elementary