Stuyvesant High School has proudly had semifinalists in 2021 - Dr. Lisa Greenwald and 2020 - Mr. Robert Sandler
Manhattan Residents Can Now Nominate Their Favorite Teachers for the Prestigious FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence that Includes $25,000 Grand Prize and Additional $10,000 Prize for School
Award’s Distinguished Jury, Including State Education Commissioner, Dr. Betty A. Rosa to Select Grand-Prize Winner and Finalists from the Borough
(New York, NY)—The FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence has begun accepting nominations for its third annual awards program. The program highlights and rewards extraordinary K-12 New York City public school teachers in each borough who inspire learning through creativity, passion, and commitment. Teachers can be nominated by students, parents of students, school personnel, and community members at https://flagaward.org/nominate-your-teacher. The nominations are open through December 1, 2021.
“Educators are pillars of our community and with this award, we get to honor the best among all the wonderful teachers who support and enrich the lives of New York City’s 1.1 million school children,” said Glenn Fuhrman, Founder of The FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence. “As we enter a new phase of learning during a pandemic, we know that teachers will rise to the occasion and they deserve even more recognition for their efforts,” added Co-Founder, Amanda Fuhrman.
Last year’s Manhattan Grand Prize Winner was Dana Monteiro, a high school music teacher at Frederick Douglass Academy. He was selected in part for his decision to switch the focus of his music program from traditional band and jazz music to Samba so that it would be more inclusive for a class that nearly doubled in size. The change opened up a new world of music to students, and he has brought his Samba program to nearly a dozen other schools through his nonprofit, “A Life with Drums.”
Manhattan Finalists and Semifinalists for last year’s award included Elisabeth Cohen (MS 54, Booker T. Washington), Hanan Harchol (High School of Art & Design), Tiffany Lenoi Jones (City-As-School/Manhattan), Ilana “Ilan” Weissman (Ella Baker School), Davon Clarke (The Children’s Workshop School), Lisa Greenwald (Stuyvesant High School), Corey Levin (Yorkville East Middle School), Shannon Potts (Special Music School), Lynn Tiede (Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering), Elizabeth “Eli” Uraga (Ella Baker School), and Anthony Voulgarides (Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School).
For this awards program, one grand prize winner from each New York City borough will receive a $25,000 cash prize, and each finalist will receive a $10,000 prize. Each grand prize winner’s school will receive $10,000, and each finalist’s school will receive $2,000 for an arts-based initiative that the recipients will help create at their school. The school award provides additional resources for arts education, an area that is often underfunded in public schools.
About the Judging Process
Candidates will be judged based on how well they embody the award’s CREATE criteria:
An independent jury of education, community, and philanthropic leaders, including Commissioner of Education & President of the University of the State of New York, Dr. Betty A. Rosa, will select the winners.
“Teachers change lives. They create opportunities and pathways for students to become successful, contributing members of society. For this work, they deserve all the recognition we can give them. It is therefore my honor to serve as a member of this award’s jury for the third year,” said Dr. Rosa.
About the Nominations Process
Timeline: Nominations are open now and will close on December 1, 2021. Semi-finalists will be notified in February. Winners will be announced in June.
Who is Eligible: Current full-time teachers in New York City public schools, grades K-12, with at least five years of classroom experience.
Who can nominate: Students, parents of students, principals, fellow teachers, and other colleagues can nominate teachers.
Process: The nomination form asks nominators to fill in contact information and answer one question: Why are you nominating this teacher for the FLAG Award? Once the nomination is received, an email will be sent to the nominated teacher informing them that they have been nominated. The email will also include a link to a form containing six short essay questions in which they can express how they fit each of the CREATE criteria.
Jury: An independent jury will select the five grand-prize winners.
About the FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence
The FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence award, founded by Glenn and Amanda
Fuhrman, recognizes and celebrates extraordinary public school teachers who inspire learning through creativity, passion and commitment. This award is funded by The FLAG Foundation for Excellence in Education and by The Fuhrman Family Foundation. It is administered by co-presidents, Risa Daniels and Laura Twersky.
