Cobb County Teachers of the Year Announced

Just a week before the school year starts on Aug. 1, Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale snuck into all-staff meetings at three schools to give one elementary, middle and high school teacher the surprise of their career.

Surrounded by their families, school board representative and a half-dozen district staff armed with cameras, Ragsdale announced the elementary school-level, middle school-level and high school-level Teachers of the Year on Thursday.

The winners were met with a frenzy of applause, cheers and embraces as they made their way to the front of the room to shake the superintendent’s hand.

Those honorees are Karen Wright, a fourth-grade English language arts teacher at Big Shanty Intermediate School; Shelly Quance, a sixth-grade science teacher at Palmer Middle School; and Jasmin Molina, a ninth-grade American literature teacher at Osborne High School.

The three teachers recognized will each receive a free one-year lease on a car, thanks to Ed Voyles Automotive.

“I’m speechless, really. You are the best staff I have ever worked with. Twenty five years, you are the best,” Quance said to her colleagues in Palmer’s library. “Your love for kids is obvious every single day. I thank God every day that I get to walk into this building and be a part of this family.”

At Palmer, Quance is called the “queen of zen,” known for keeping her cool under any circumstance and never short of solutions.

“She is calm in the craziest of situations,” one of her colleagues said. “… When we talk about respectful, responsible solutions, Shelly is all those things. She’s a solution.”

Wright, who is going on her 19th year teaching at Big Shanty, addressed her colleagues with tears in her eyes.

“We can’t do this job by ourselves. Y’all, we’re a family. … We are lifting each other up and making each other better. And while we’re the teachers, we’re also the students, learning from each other and growing and challenging ourselves and even after our hardest day here, we come back. Because it’s where we belong,” Wright said.

Her principal, Kelly Luscre, said Wright goes above and beyond the curriculum to shape her students.

“Not only does she teach the kids the academics, but the social .. teaching them to be good people,” Luscre said. “We are very, very proud.”

Molina has been teaching at Osborne since 2018, but her roots at the school run much deeper.

“I think this is full circle, because I graduated from Osborne. I’ve always loved Osborne. When I became a teacher, I was like ‘I’m only gonna apply to one school, i.e. Osborne.’ I think I was meant to be here, I’m meant to be here with all my friends, all my coworkers who I love. You guys are awesome,” Molina said.

Ragsdale reminded the honorees that their recognition is extra special because it comes from their peers.

“The biggest benefit of this, truly, is that it’s your peers who select you,” Ragsdale said. “… Your colleagues and your peers are the ones who put you in this position.”

And, he told each honoree that should they need help selecting a vehicle at the Teacher of the Year pep rally in October, his two cents come at no cost.

“Hellcats, SRTs,” he joked, “... If you need help picking it out, I give free advice.”