Cecily Anderson
In honoring an outstanding educator each year, Baltimore County Public Schools celebrates all 8,850 teachers who make a positive difference in the lives of our students.

Superintendent Dr. Joe A. Hairston presents the Teacher of the Year award to Cecily Anderson.

In a life of defining moments, Cecily Anderson experienced one of the biggest on May 4, 2009: the Catonsville Middle School English teacher was named the Baltimore County Public Schools Teacher of the Year for 2009-2010.

Anderson, who teaches eighth-grade English and serves as English department chair at Catonsville Middle School, appeared humbled and moved by the standing ovation given her during the ceremony to announce the Teacher of the Year.  In her remarks, she noted the life-changing events that led her to become a teacher – a natural decision, she said, growing up with parents who treasured learning and knowledge.

But it was the birth of her son, Nicholas, the youngest of her three children, that provided her with the biggest life-altering experience; the child was born with Osteogenisis Imperfecta, better known as “brittle bone” disease.

“Life defining moments often leave us breathless,” she said. “More often than not, they are unexpected, challenging, and ironically worthy of celebrating. In an instant, we are asked to reexamine who we are, what is expected of us, and whether or not we feel worthy of the privilege.

Catonsville Middle School Principal Michael Thorne with his faculty member and BCPS Teacher of the Year Cecily Anderson.

“Life-defining moments often leave us breathless,” she said again, her son beaming from the front row at his mother. “My son, Nicholas, leaves me breathless.”

Now, as Baltimore County's newest Teacher of the Year, Anderson becomes the most visible school-based teacher in the county and among the most prominent in Maryland. Representing more than 8,850 educators for the next year, she will compete for the honor of Maryland State Teacher of the Year and appear in dozens of venues to champion teaching and her school system, one she says “has the highest degree of expectations for every child, and for every teacher, under its care.”

During the ceremony, Anderson was congratulated by Superintendent Dr. Joe A. Hairston, members of the Board of Education of Baltimore County, administrators, friends, family, and colleagues, including several former Baltimore County Teachers of the Year.

Teacher of the Year Cecily Anderson surrounded by her family.

"Cecily is truly an exceptional teacher and leader, and one who lives and breathes the philosophy of our Blueprint for Progress,” said Dr. Hairston, referring to the school system’s guiding document. “It is not uncommon to enter her classroom and see students of every ability level . . . reading, analyzing, and acting out scenes from Shakespeare, or engrossed in a heated debate, or participating in a Socratic discussion.”  

Anderson, a teacher for 14 years, thanked Dr. Hairston for his vision and emphasis on a “rigorous and relevant” education for all children, both as a teacher and as the parent of a special needs child who attends Baltimore County schools. 

As an educator who has found inspiration in being the parent of a special needs child, Anderson, 43, says she intends to use her year as Teacher of the Year to discuss issues of accountability and the importance of treating each child “as though he or she is the most important person in the world.”

"It matters to me . . . that I treat them with the respect that they deserve, and that I bring out the best in them, no matter what obstacles they bring to my room. . . . (and) that they have an unlimited potential for doing something good.”

Administrators, supporters, and friends salute the new Teacher of the Year with a standing ovation.

Also honored during the ceremony were finalists Tamara Cole, an adapted physical education teacher from Battle Monument School in Dundalk; Jean Dixon, a second-grade teacher from Prettyboy Elementary School in Middletown; Casey Head, a world cultures teacher at Windsor Mill Middle School in Randallstown; and Stephen Jasper, a technology integration teacher at Pleasant Plains Elementary School in Towson.

"The five teachers who are our finalists today . . . are exactly the kinds of educators who will be long remembered and whose legacy includes the achievements of every student who ever sat before them,” Dr. Hairston said.

Before joining the faculty of Catonsville Middle School in 2001, Anderson at Deep Creek Middle School in Essex. She began there in 1996 immediately after attaining her teaching degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.  This year, she has served as a supervisor of leadership development in the VocabOlympics!, part of the Vocabulary Smackdown program she helped to create and coordinate at Catonsville Middle School.  

In addition to the title and a plaque, the county's Teacher of the Year is awarded an array of prizes.  Anderson receives from the school system:

• State-of-the-art educational technology for her classroom
• Books dedicated for the Catonsville Middle School library in her name
• The opportunity to participate in a national professional development conference of her choice during the next year
• A specially designated parking space at her school

Baltimore County’s business community also strongly supported the Teacher of the Year program this year, contributing a variety of awards and gifts to demonstrate its commitment to teaching and to the county’s Teacher of the Year. Those gifts included:

• A weekend getaway at the Ascot House luxury bed and breakfast of Marietta, Pa.
• Tickets to a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert at Oregon Ridge park
• A yearlong family membership to Brick Bodies / Lynne Brick’s health and fitness centers
• Tickets to a production at Centerstage
• A laptop computer from DataNetworks
• A family membership to the Irvine Nature Center of Owings Mills
• A family membership to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
• Tickets to the National Aquarium in Baltimore
• Professional organizing services from Simplify Organizing LLC
• A Pandora bracelet compliments of Smyth Co. jewelers of Timonium
• A gift certificate for custom cakes and pastries at SugarBakers of Catonsville

For more information on the BCPS and Maryland State Department of Education Teacher of the Year programs, please visit: www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/programs/recognition-partnerships.

<< For a list of BCPS Teachers of the Year since 1988, please click here >>