Teacher Nominated For State-Wide Award

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sidney A. Freund has announced the selection of Karen Boyea as the Greenwich Public Schools representative for the 2012 Connecticut Teacher of the Year program.

Boyea is a Greenwich High School Honors and Advanced Placement Social Studies/History teacher. An 11-year teaching veteran, Boyea has been with the Greenwich Public Schools since 2002.

Greenwich High School students Sarah Fountain and Lily Root nominated Boyea for the Distinguished Teacher of the Year, citing her commitment to her students both in and outside the classroom. Boyea was one of six Greenwich public school teachers selected in April for the award.

Explaining his selection, Freund said in a prepared statement, “Karen Boyea is the consummate professional and a master teacher. Her lessons are well prepared and well crafted. She engages her students in high level questions and discussions, and is masterful at differentiating her lessons."

He added, "Her love of history and her clear connection to her students is impressive. I am certain that Ms. Boyea will represent Greenwich very well in the 2012 CT Teacher of the Year Program.

The CT Teacher of the Year will be a nominee for the National Teacher of the Year Award - an award won in 2009 by Tony Mullen, a teacher in the Greenwich alternative high school, the Arch School.

Greenwich High School Headmaster Chris Winters said of Boyea's nomination, “I have been visiting Karen Boyea's classes for many years. In every visit I have witnessed superbly organized classes that were deeply considerate of the subject matter, centered on student creativity and problem solving, and nurturing of all individuals in the room." Winters added, "Through study of American History, she invests all her emotional and intellectual energy toward developing our GHS students with the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to function effectively in an interdependent global community. She is our Vision of a Teacher.”

The superintendent selects one teacher who will represent Greenwich in the state’s competition. Throughout the month of May, Freund reviewed the nomination packets submitted for each of the Distinguished Teachers, spent time in each of their classrooms, debriefed the observations with each teacher and with their principal, and reviewed essays submitted as part of the selection process.

Boyea will be recognized by the Board of Education at its June 16 meeting at Town Hall. Boyea also will be honored by The Distinguished Teachers Awards Committee and by the Greenwich Kiwanis Club at the June 16 meeting. The Kiwanis Club will present her with the Joseph Mitchell Kaye Award. Kaye was a past president of the Greenwich Kiwanis Club, a Lieutenant Governor of the Kiwanis Club for the New England District, and served on the Greenwich Board of Education.