Salt Lake School District middle school educator named Utah’s Teacher of the Year

Sayre Posey, a U.S. history teacher at Salt Lake City School District’s Northwest Middle School, has been selected as the 2025 Utah Teacher of the Year.

Posey’s selection was announced Thursday by the Utah State Board of Education. She and four teacher of the year finalists were honored at a banquet at the Utah State Capitol.

She started her teaching career in the Baltimore City Public Schools teaching ninth grade social studies. She majored in history education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

After relocating to Utah, Posey taught the Youth in Care program at West Jordan High School before joining the faculty of Northwest Middle School.

A classically trained violinist, Posey enjoys canyoneering and alpine climbing.

As Utah’s Teacher of the Year, Posey was presented with a check for $10,000 and she will compete with other states’ teachers of the year in the national competition for teacher of the year.

Posey was the second Salt Lake City School District educator to be selected Utah teacher of the year in the past five years. John Arthur, a sixth grade teacher at Meadowlark Elementary School, was the state’s teacher of the year for 2021 and he was a finalist for national teacher of the year.

Four Utah educators were named Utah Teacher of the Year finalists. Each received a $2,000 check.

The finalists included:

• Andru Jones, a special education teacher and football coach at Viewmont High School in Davis School District.

• Andrea Settle, an English teacher at Juab High School in Nephi in the Juab School District.

• Shari Payne, a kindergarten teacher at Wasatch Elementary in the Provo City School District.

• Seyyed Sharifi, a special education teacher who works with students with severe disabilities at Hartvigsen School in the Granite School District.

Utah’s teacher of the year and finalists will participate in a year-long cohort in correlation with the Utah Teacher Fellows.

Teachers of the year and finalists are selected among educators selected by their respective school districts or public charter schools. A committee that includes representatives of the state school board, parent and teacher, advocacy organizations, and charter schools, selects five finalists and the teacher of the year is selected among them.