Edina's Jackie Roehl Named Minnesota Teacher of the Year

Jackie Roehl has achieved something not a single other Edina Public Schools teacher can lay claim to: She has been crowned Minnesota's Teacher of the Year.

Roehl, who teaches 10th-grade English at , was selected Sunday, May 6, as the 48th winner of the prestigious award by Education Minnesota. It was a first-ever Teacher of the Year designation for the typically award-rich district.

"It is through spreading ideas about culturally responsive teaching in my classroom and with my colleagues that I feel I have made my greatest contribution to education," Roehl said in a statement.

When for the award earlier this year, she still wasn't sure if she had much of a shot. She joked the judges might not want to pick a teacher from Edina because, well, it's Edina.

"If they read my essays, I'm not the typical 'Edina' teacher," Roehl said. "I went for the idea that education is a civil right for all people."

"I think this honor for her is almost embarrassing," colleague Rachel Hatten said. "I don't mean to paint her as some sort of martyr, but she's far more interested in what's happening in her classroom than how people see her."

"I hope that when I've taught as long as Jackie has, that I'm still as engaged in the activity of it," Hatten said.

Roehl has taught at Edina High School since 1998. She holds a bachelor's and master's degree from the University of St. Thomas. Her focus has long been on closing the achievement gap that exists in schools, working hard to find new ways to teach students from different backgrounds.

"Jackie has a strong belief that each of her students can and will learn and be successful. She sets very high expectations for her students and then provides them the tools to achieve those expectations," Mary Manderfeld, director of enrollment and school improvement for Edina Public Schools, said in a statement. "She is a deeply committed teacher and has a tireless work ethic in her attempt to reach all students."

Roehl was a late-comer to the field, starting out at Edina when she was 34. She had previously been working in direct marketing, but decided to go back to school to fulfill a dream that had been brewing since she was a student.

"I always had that idea of being a teacher in the back of my mind," she said. "I was in the corporate world and I started to wonder what the point was. I really wanted kind of a higher calling. For me, teaching offered that."

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