Let the Voting Begin! You Decide the 2012 American Pioneer of Teaching Award

State finalists have been decided, and now it is time to vote for a national winner for the 2012 American Pioneer of Teaching Award, sponsored by the National Coalition for Public School Options.

PublicSchoolOptions.org received over 900 nominations for the award, which recognizes top performing elementary and secondary teachers who work in public schools of choice such as online and charter schools.

With so many fantastic teachers making a difference in students' lives coast-to-coast, it was difficult to narrow it down to just a few. Below are the names and schools of those teachers that were chosen as state finalists. Students, parents, fellow teachers, friends and family members can vote for the national winner by visiting the NCPSO Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/NationalCoalitionforPublicSchoolOptions

· Beate Hybinete (Colorado Virtual Academy)

· Taffie Morris (k12 Online School in Florida)

· Debra Jones (Georgia Cyber Academy)

· Chris Wood (Idaho Virtual Academy)

· Jennifer Lyons (Hoosier Academies)

· Becky Carr (Minnesota Virtual Academy)

· Denise Rosman (Michigan Virtual Academy)

· Gabriel Gonzalez (Nevada Virtual Academy)

· Tabitha Pacheco (Utah Virtual Academy)

· Crystal Neal-Cruell (South Carolina Virtual Cyber School)

· Paul Wulff (Ohio Virtual Academy)

· Audra Plummer (Oklahoma Virtual Academy)

· Stephanie Imig (Oregon Connections Academy)

· Julianne Langston Helfrich (PA Cyber School)

· Christy Clauss (Tennessee Virtual Academy)

· Bryan Lankford (Texas Virtual Academy)

· Lindsey Woods (Virginia Virtual Academy)

· Stephanie Ritchie (Washington Virtual Academy)

· Carrie Cherney (Wisconsin Virtual Academy)

We encourage you to go to vote between April 30 and Friday, May 4th at 8pm Eastern Time. Please share the voting information with family and friends, as well as anyone you think might be interested.

Briana LeClaire

President, NCPSO

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