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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 1999

News Release

Georgia Kindergarten Teacher Preaches Passion for Children and Teaching at NEA Annual Meeting

ORLANDO, Fla. -- After more than two decades of teaching, all in Georgia, 1999 Teacher of the Year Andy Baumgartner can divide the major issues facing public education into two categories: meeting the needs of each child and improving the public perception of the teaching profession.

"We must educate others to our needs and to the needs of the students," Baumgartner told more than 10,000 delegates attending the 1999 NEA Representative Assembly in Orlando. Baumgartner, a kindergarten teacher in Augusta, Georgia, repeatedly stressed that the entire community has a role to play in the education of its children. "Every member of the public has as much responsibility for public education's success or demise as teachers to," he said.

He offered his winning strategies for developing and maintaining a supportive learning environment for young learners. Baumgartner's formula: a nurturing classroom and school in an environment where students feels able to converse with peers, teachers and visitors alike, and one that encourages adventure, exploration and discovery. He adds that a successful classroom should also make children feel loved and treasured.

Baumgartner was outspoken in his support for the need to attract highly qualified people to the teaching profession, and he urged the members of the profession to be instrumental in setting those qualifications: "No one sets higher standards for effective teachers than the ones they set for themselves," he said.

Baumgartner has established himself as a trailblazer in the classroom. As a male kindergarten teacher, he is breaking a national trend that has fewer men entering the teaching profession and fewer still teaching at the elementary school level. He is only the second Georgia native and second kindergarten teacher to be named the nation's top teacher since the National Teacher of the Year program began in 1952.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.