New Manchester Elementary Teacher Earns County Teacher Of Year

DOUGLAS COUNTY, GA — New Manchester Elementary School fourth grade teacher Brittania Wright now holds the title of Douglas County Teacher of the Year. Judges selected Wright from a field of 34 finalists and ultimately crowned her Douglas County's Teacher of the Year. Wright achieved the recognition Thursday night during a suspense-filled ceremony at Central Baptist Church in Douglasville.

Wright has been an elementary school teacher for eleven years and devoted ten of those years to students at New Manchester Elementary. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education in 2007 and completed her Master’s Degree through the University of West Georgia. Brittania holds endorsements in Reading, Gifted Education, and Teacher Leadership.

Mrs. Wright currently teaches fourth grade and also serves New Manchester Elementary as a Learning Focused Schools Coach. Wright has helped lead professional development on Learning Focused strategies including higher-order thinking strategies, questioning techniques, lesson plan formatting, and more. She recently completed the two-year PAGE-sponsored Principal Teacher Leadership Network to create and nurture a culture of engagement.

Turner Middle School's Zanita Hartzog and Chapel Hill High's Captain Ted McMurtrie joined Wright as the three semifinalists which also included Alex Gibson of Eastside Elementary School; Angela Wiggins of Fairplay Middle School; and Adrienne Petit of New Manchester High School.

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Each Douglas County School nominated an individual Teacher of the Year. Judges selected six semi-finalists from the field based on the strength of their applications and recommendations. All 34 submissions were judged blindly by a panel of statewide evaluators.

Wright will go on to compete for the Teacher of the Year competition at the State level. The Teacher of the Year winner for Georgia will also compete in the National Teacher of the Year program.

Photos courtesy Douglas County School System