Thomas Jefferson Elementary Educator Named Teacher of the Year

Thomas Jefferson Elementary School teacher Denise O’Neil has been selected to receive this year’s Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award.  The selection was made public Saturday by the Washington Post.

O’Neil is a veteran educator with more than 25 years of teaching experience.  She currently serves as a speech and language teacher at Thomas Jefferson Elementary school.  She also chairs the school’s Child Study Committee and is a co-team leader for special education staff. 

“She instills in her students a desire to better themselves and learn those skills that will require them to no longer need her services,” Principal Trudy Taylor wrote in her nomination letter.  “She goes far beyond the requirements of a speech pathologist by seeking out “typical peers” to join her identified students in their instruction.”

“She is a person of integrity,” parent Lisa Morse wrote in her nomination letter.  “She is wise, she is kind, she is incredibly skilled in her profession, and she is always a voice for her students.” 

O’Neil will be invited to attend a recognition reception at the Washington Post in April and will receive a cash award.  She and the four other Falls Church City nominees will also be recognized at a school board reception later this spring. 

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