Superintendent of Haywood County Schools Teresa Russell announced recently the 2013-14 Teachers of the Year. Selected at each school by their peers were: Anderson – Elizabeth Becraft, Haywood Elementary – Stacie Lefave, East Side Elementary – Kathleen Holmes, Haywood Middle School – Morris Long, Haywood High School – Patricia Hopper, HHS Career and Tech – Julie Taylor, and REACH Academy at Sunny Hill – Julian Stanz. Ms. Lefave also received District Teacher honors for Grades K-4; Ms. Holmes received the District Teacher designation for Grades 5-8; and Mrs. Hopper, the District Teacher for Grades 9-12.

Elizabeth Becraft is in her fifth year of teaching. She teaches Kindergarten at Anderson Early Childhood Center.

Stacie Lefave teaches second grade at Haywood Elementary. She has been teaching for 10 years.

Kathleen Holmes has been teaching for five years in her present position at East Side Intermediate School. She has a total of 34 years of teaching experience. She teaches fifth-grade reading/language arts, social studies and spelling.

Jimmy Morris Long, a seventh-grade math teacher at Haywood Middle School, has been teaching for five years.

Patricia Hopper is a Special Education Inclusion teacher at Haywood High School who teaches social studies, U. S. history and English I. She has a total of 14 years of teaching experience, four of them at HHS.

Julie Taylor teaches health science classes at Haywood High School, Career and Technical Division. Her classes include nursing education, A & P, and medical terminology. She has been teaching for 11 years.

Julian Stanz has been teaching for five years. He teaches social studies to 10th through 12th grade students in the REACH program at Sunny Hill Innovative Learning Center.