The Cheatham County School District has named three exceptional educators as the 2024-2025 District-Level Teachers of the Year.
Elementary school: Melissa Jones, East Cheatham Elementary School. Jones has been teaching in the district for 23 years – all at ECES. She has taught second, third and fourth grades and served as a curriculum coach. She is currently a fourth-grade ELA teacher. Jones has received many honors during her career and was recognized by the readers of the Cheatham County Exchange/Main Street Media as the Best Elementary School Teacher in 2022.
Middle school: Kristen Mundy, Sycamore Middle School. Mundy, a multi-year Level 5 teacher, has been teaching for 19 years. She started her career in 2004 at East Robertson High School and has been at SMS since 2007. She is a seventh-grade science teacher. During her time at SMS, she has developed and implemented two RTI classes: Knightly News Broadcast and Agriscience. She has also established many agriculture-related experiences for her students, including the Ag Olympics and Clover Bowl, Horse Judging and Hippology teams.
High school: Spencer Cooke, Cheatham County Central High School. Cooke has been teaching in the district for 16 years. He currently teaches U.S. Government and Civics and Personal Finance at CCCHS. He started his career in 2007, teaching one year at Sycamore High School and 11 years at Cheatham Middle School before moving to CCCHS in 2019. Cooke has consistently been named a Level 4 and Level 5 teacher and has been selected to attend numerous national professional development programs, including the Street Law & Supreme Court Historical Society, U.S.S. Midway Institute for Teachers and White House History Teacher Institute.
The three will now go on to compete for Teacher of the Year in the Mid-Cumberland region. If they are selected as a regional winner, they will then advance for consideration for Teacher of the Year at the state level.