Bedford Hills Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Tracie Tkacik was announced as Lynchburg City Schools’ Teacher of the Year for 2018 Monday.
Tkacik has worked in LCS since 1994, teaching at William Marvin Bass Elementary School then moving to Bedford Hills Elementary in 2016.
With only two years so far at Bedford Hills Elementary, Tkacik’s selection as LCS’ Teacher of the Year “speaks volumes about her level of professionalism, collaboration, respect and admiration by those who work closely with her each day,” BHE Principal Sherri Steele said in a news release.
In 2012, Tkacik was selected as W.M. Bass Elementary’s Teacher of the Year.
Tkacik is considered a leader in BHE who is “committed to building trust and positive relationships” with students and families while also motivating students and creating a “safe, positive learning environment,” according to the release.
Besides using teaching strategies that meet every student’s needs, Tkacik, who is a member of the Lynchburg Education Association, also has spent time this spring tutoring students before school and participating in the after-school program from fall of 2016 to fall of 2017.
Throughout her career, Tkacik’s students’ math Standards of Learning scores have consistently been above 90 percent passing, some years with 100 percent passing, until the 2015-16 school year, when 86 percent of her students passed the math SOL test. Her students’ reading SOL scores also were consistently above 90 percent.
“Students will have many teachers throughout their educational years, but I am completely confident that they will always remember the positive impact Mrs. Tkacik has had on their lives,” Steele said in the release.
Tkacik served as a Girls on the Run coach from 2008 to 2013. She also attended a mission trip with her church youth group in 2013 in Breezy Point, New York, to help a local church clean and rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. Tkacik received her bachelor’s degree from Radford University.