Tuesday was a night to celebrate excellence, as the Mathews County School Board recognized its three Teacher of the Year recipients, and congratulated student artists from each of the county’s three schools whose work was exhibited last week at the 2019 Virginia School Boards Association Regional Spring Art Contest.

The process for selecting Teacher of the Year began in January, with candidates having to meet a number of criteria in order to be considered. Ultimately, the decision is left in the hands of the teachers’ colleagues, who vote on the candidates. This makes it significant, said superintendent of schools Nancy Welch, because “it’s not from an administrator, it’s from your peers.”

Teacher of the Year recipients for 2019 are math specialist Delores Bloomfield at Lee-Jackson Elementary, physical education teacher James Hutcheson from Thomas Hunter Middle, and science teacher Mark Tomcany from Mathews High School.

 Lee-Jackson p...