The West Feliciana Parish School Board honored the district’s three teachers of the year for the past school year at an Oct. 19 meeting.
The board also honored the memory of a former board member, Ruby Mae Givens, who died in January.
The elementary Teacher of the Year is Laura Lindsey, an art teacher at Bains Lower Elementary School. She is the daughter-in-law of the late Lloyd Lindsey, who was West Feliciana’s schools superintendent for 16 years until his death in 2009.
Bains Principal Torrence Williams said his school is “happiest place on earth,” and he would put Lindsey “right up there with Mickey and Minnie.” He said Lindsey teaches art but incorporates history and other subjects into her lessons.
Lindsey said she took a 15-year absence to raise a family, but returned in 2016.
“I feel like it’s a calling, not a job,” she said.
The middle school honoree is Sarah Claire Dyer, a math teacher at the parish’s middle school.
Principal Mark Lester said his school had just posted the worst math scores in its history when Dyer began teaching.
“Within a year, she turned it around,” Lester said.
One hundred percent of her Algebra I students scored at the “mastery” or “advanced” levels on the last state-mandated tests, while 80% of all of her students achieved the growth goal set by the state, he said.