Archer High School Teacher Named Gwinnett County’s Top Teacher

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — Three Gwinnett County teachers have been named Teacher of the Year in high school, middle school and elementary school, respectively.

Lee Allen, a 9th grade algebra teacher at Archer High School is the winning recipient of the 2022 Gwinnett County Public Schools Teacher of the Year and High School Teacher of the Year award. The school district announced the award Tuesday in a news release.

Taniesha Pooser, an orchestra teacher at Berkmar Middle School, was named Gwinnett County Public Schools Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Jamie Garcia Caycho, a 1st grade teacher at Arcado Elementary School, has been named Gwinnett County Elementary School Teacher of the Year

This celebratory event was held at the school district’s Instructional Support Center with the Board Room transformed for the evening with colorful balloons and festive lighting to reflect the “Shine” theme, according to the release. The district rolled out the red carpet for the six finalists, 19 semifinalists, their guests, and a small audience who attended the celebration in person.

Allen started his career in education in 2014 as a teacher at Northwest Whitfield High School, according to the release. He joined the staff at Archer in 2019. He describes his path to education, “I arrived in education from an alternative background in the business sector, and I quickly realized that the general population has very little understanding of what so many of our students are dealing with on a daily basis.

“The main reason I changed careers to become a teacher had very little to do with my love for math. My initial interest stemmed from helping others through community coaching and part-time tutoring,” he said. “I quickly fell in love with the everyday challenges that teaching brings and the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of so many young adults.”

As Gwinnett County’s 2022 Teacher of the Year, Allen will receive an annual award of $1,000 and the other two level winners will receive $750 each year, for as long as they are employed with GCPS. The three level winners also received a laptop. Finalists who were not selected as level winners received a one-time monetary award of $750.

Finalists, other than the county winner, also received a $250 grocery store gift card and gift basket. Each local school winner received a one-time award of $200, a plaque, a TOTY cup, a T-shirt, and a TOTY pen and pencil set. High school TOTYs also received a commemorative ring.

As the overall winner, Allen also received a crystal peach, a $500 grocery store gift card and gift basket, a commemorative ring, additional one-time cash awards totaling $2,500, and a $3,000 donation to support his school.

The event—which recognized all 139 local school Teachers of the Year—was live streamed and a recording is available on the GCPS website and via the GCPS TV app.

Learn more about both award recipients at www.gcpsk12.org.