The district’s Teacher of the Year selection process begins in May when each school’s Teacher of the Year from the previous year and the principal explain the teacher selection process to all their certified employees.

Every school then puts together a ballot with a list of eligible certified staff to serve as Teacher of the Year, and the voting begins. In the first round, staff members select three names. In the second round, staff select from the top five finalists. Then, the teacher who receives the most votes becomes the school’s new Teacher of the Year and continues in the competition.

In July, school-level Teachers of the Year submit a written application responding to specific questions. This round uses four teams of judges to methodically and carefully review and score applications from all 31 school-level Teachers of the Year.

In January and February, another team of judges observes each school-level Teacher of the Year teaching in the classroom. 

Each team uses a different rubric. There is one rubric for scoring the applications and another rubric for scoring the observation.

District TOY coordinators total the scores for application content and classroom observation for each school-level Teacher of the Year. The teacher with the highest overall total becomes District Teacher of the Year.

The Teacher of the Year process culminates at the annual Teacher of the Year Celebration, which celebrates all school-level Teachers of the Year and announces the new District Teacher of the Year. 

The new District Teacher of the Year will represent Lexington One in next year’s state-level Teacher of the Year competition.

In 2006, the Mungo family and Lexington District One entered into a partnership. That year, the Mungo family created the Mary Meech Mungo Award given to the Lexington County School District One District Teacher of the Year.

This annual $1,000 award pays tribute to excellence in education and the dedicated teachers who provide their students with a quality education that prepares them for a successful future.

Mary Meech Mungo graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1947. Although she began her studies in engineering, she finished with a degree in education. Mungo was a dedicated elementary teacher in Richland County School District One for many years.

Not only did she give back to her community through teaching young people, she was also an advocate for those with mental illness and a member of the Alston Wilkes Society.

A lifelong member of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, this dedicated wife, mother and teacher lost her battle with cancer in 1978.