Shelburne Middle’s Brandy Johnson is 2024 Region V Teacher of the Year

Brandy Johnson, a 7^th grade Language Arts teacher at Shelburne Middle School, is the 2024 Region V Teacher of the Year.

Region V includes 20 school divisions, including Staunton City Schools.

An educator for 20 years, Johnson makes language arts content easily understandable for her students, helps them to see the value of setting goals and greatly impacts student learning in her classroom.

Her impact is felt outside of the classroom within the school, district and the Commonwealth as a team player who is constantly seeking new learning and ways of approaching instruction.

Johnson’s peers selected her during the 2022-2023 school year as Shelburne Middle School Teacher of the Year and was selected by a Staunton City Schools panel as Staunton City Schools Teacher of the Year.

In an application to the Virginia Department of Education, one of Johnson’s colleagues, Bonny Strassler, wrote: “Brandy sees reluctant readers as a challenge and works hard to find just the right book for them, getting to know their interests and personalities, building trust, and student success. A student was insistent that she could never interest him in a book and there was no point in trying. Brandy persistently offered him books and slowly over the course of the year he began reading, until he exclaimed in the hall one day, ‘I can’t believe you got me to read and enjoy a book!’ That is the essence of Mrs. Johnson.”

Virginia Department of Education representative and Deputy Secretary of Education, McKenzie Snow made the announcement at a Shelburne Middle School faculty meeting on Monday afternoon

“There are approximately 100,000 teachers in the Commonwealth of Virginia, people who dedicate their lives to inspiring young people to achieve to their highest potential. Among these thousands of individuals, Mrs. Brandy Johnson has been selected to represent not only your school, not only the City of Staunton but the entire Valley Region of Virginia,” Snow said.

In May, Johnson will participate in an interview for the 2024 Virginia Teacher of the Year. The First Lady of Virginia will host a reception the same evening, and a final decision and announcement of Virginia Teacher of the Year will be made at that time.