Manhattan Beach Teacher Named as County Teacher of the Year

UNIVERSAL CITY, CA — A Manhattan Beach teach were among the 16 educators honored last week as Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year and will advance to the statewide competition.

Alissa Opfer from Manhattan Beach Unified School District honored at a ceremony in Universal City. The honorees were chosen from 73 district-level teachers of the year chosen earlier this year from among 75,000 educators, according to the county Office of Education.

The 15 others named during a ceremony were:

• Sara Line, Burbank Unified School District;
• Sheila Edwards, Covina-Valley Unified School District;
• Dominique Evans-Bye, Glendale Unified School District;
• Carrie Trupp, Las Virgenes Unified School District;
• Deborah Holland, Long Beach Unified School District;
• Susan Watson, Long Beach Unified School District;
• Bootsie Battle-Holt, Los Angeles Unified School District;
• Marcella Deboer, Los Angeles Unified School District;
• Natalie Elliott, Los Angeles Unified School District;
• Shannon Garrison, Los Angeles Unified School District;
• Tricia Kalma, Los Angeles Unified School District;
• Isela Lieber, Los Angeles Unified School District;
• Matthew Waynee, Los Angeles Unified School District;
• Laura Palmer, Pasadena Unified School District; and
• Matt Byers, Temple City Unified School District.

Five statewide co-winners will be announced in October, and one of them will be selected to represent California in the National Teacher of the Year competition in the spring.

— City News Service contributed to this report. Photo courtesy of LACOE