Loudoun County Public Schools named the 2023 New Teacher of the Year.
According to a release from the school system, Parie Ahmady has been named New Teacher of the Year in Elementary Education, while Sarah Proper has been named New Teacher of the Year in Secondary Education.
The statement said Ahmadi is an all-subjects teacher at Sterling Primary School, where she teaches Year 5. She herself is an alumnus of LCPS. Ahmadi has been recommended by several LCPS staff members, including Jennifer Short, principal of Sterling Elementary.
“Ms. Ahmadi demonstrates exceptional teaching practices and continues to demonstrate the ability to form meaningful relationships with her students,” Short wrote in her letter nominating Ahmadi. “The classroom community is full of love and acceptance and is a safe place for students to take academic risks.”
Meanwhile, Occasion teaches Grade 8 English Arts at River Bend Middle School, also in Sterling. A native of New York, Proper has been nominated by a number of colleagues, as has one of her students. The student wrote that Proper’s class “has become the class I’m most excited about this year. No matter how I feel in the morning, whether I’m anxious, sad, frustrated, happy, or any other emotion, Mrs. Proper finds a way to be kind and understanding.”
To be eligible for the New Teacher of the Year award, teachers must have commenced their teaching career on or after January 1, 2022. They must have been nominated by a fellow staff member, and the release states that they must “perform in distinctive costumes in their freshman year at teaching, demonstrated a commitment to professional growth through professional learning and served as a role model for other new teachers.”
Nominations for the award have been accepted from throughout the school system.
