Congratulations to Le Anne Parker of Pecan Grove Elementary School, who was named FBISD Elementary Teacher of the Year, and Willie Yarber of Elkins High School, who was named FBISD Secondary Teacher of the Year at a special awards dinner on April 30.

Le Anne Parker is a 26-year veteran educator and a speech pathologist at Pecan Grove Elementary. She is inspired by her profession by the words of Charles Schulz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip, who said, “The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money or the most awards. They are simply the ones who care the most.”

Willie Yarber from Elkins High School has 15 years of teaching experience and teaches AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) classes to ninth- through twelfth-grade students. As an AVID Coordinator for the last five years, Yarber has seen 80 percent of his senior students, many of whom are first-generation college students, attend a four-year college or university immediately after graduation from high school.

Congratulations also to the FBISD Teacher of the Year finalists: Elementary Schools - Terri Whitaker (Brazos Bend Elementary), Tara Dubuisson (Fleming Elementary), Wendy Johnson (Mission Bend Elementary), Connie Hall (Palmer Elementary), and Nneka Beauford (Parks Elementary); Secondary Schools - Troy Drayton (Quail Valley Middle), Sheila McAninch (Clements High School), Patrick Wallace (Dulles High School), Mary Alegria (Kempner High School) and Linka Pace (Travis High School).