BURLINGAME - CTA President Wayne Johnson today saluted California teacher and CTA member Chauncey Veatch, who has been named National Teacher of the Year.
"Chauncey Veatch personifies the spirit of our teachers in California. He is a man whose dedication and commitment to California's future brought him into teaching as a second career," Johnson said.
"As a teacher in Coachella Valley, Mr. Veatch has worked largely with migrant students and has taught his pupils to set their sights high. As a result, they have won acclaim in the county's spelling bees, the state's History Day, in the Cadet Corps that participated in the Rose Bowl parade, in community service projects - and as scholarship-winning college-bound students."
A member of the CTA affiliate, the Coachella Valley Teachers Association, Veatch was named one of five California Teachers of the Year in January, and was the state's nominee for the national award. Due to the national award program, Veatch was unable to attend CTA's State Council in Los Angeles this weekend, when his colleagues, Carol Brouhle, Mary Eileen Geer, Janet Gower and Marvin Inmon were honored in their roles as California Teachers of the Year. Veatch is the second California teacher to win the honor in recent years. In 2000, Marilyn Whirry, Manhattan Beach high school educator, was named National Teacher of the Year.
While Veatch is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and veteran of the Gulf War, he has often emphasized the role of the teacher in shaping America's future.
"There really is no activity in a democracy that is more important than the education of our children," he said. He has also observed that the key component in any classroom is the teacher.
Veatch is to be honored in a Rose Garden ceremony with President Bush on Wednesday. The Teacher of the Year program is sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers and Scholastic Inc., the educational publisher.
Read more about Chauncey Veatch and California's Teachers of the Year in CTA's California Educator.