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35-Year Veteran is Teacher of the Year

Fairfield Community School District

The 2016 Teacher of the Year in Iowa is a 35-year veteran of the profession. 

Fairfield High School English teacher Scott Slechtawas introduced as the latest Teacher of the Year during a school assembly.

The 57-year-old has been teaching in the southeast Iowa town since 1984.

Slechta reflects on what the recognition means at this stage of his career.

“New opportunities, new doors opened," he says. "I always think there are points in my career when I kind of look for something new and adventuresome, and I’m sure this journey will offer both of those things.

For the next year, he’ll make public appearances across the state and he says he’s already thought about the messages he’ll deliver.

“I’m thinking about some things like the importance of national board certification," he says. "I’m thinking about the importance of arts in the schools. I’m thinking about the aspects of anti-bullying and tolerance in the schools.”

Slechta will follow Des Moines Spanish teacher Clemencia Spizziri as the state’s chief ambassador for teaching.

The other finalists were Gail Heninger, a teacher of gifted and talented students at Davenport Central High School; Benjamin Chadwick, a technology teacher at Dallas Center-Grimes High School; Louise Fleming, an instructional coach at Vinton-Shellsburg High School; and Wade Petersen, a French teacher at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School in West Des Moines.