Vernon teacher named SCARC Special Education Teacher of the Year

SPARTA — Jenn Papandrea was presented with the SCARC Special Education Teacher of the Year award on June 12 at Perona Farms in Sparta. Papandrea is a special education teacher at Lounsberry Hollow Middle School in Vernon and was nominated by principal Charles McKay.

“Mrs. Papandrea is one of those teachers who gives her whole soul to the job,” he said. “She is hard-working, intelligent, kind, and most of all, demanding of her students. In her classroom she expects the best from her charges, including giving them projects based on differentiated expectations as each are expected to work to their fullest potential.” At the dinner, which honored only one special education teacher in Sussex County, Phil Motyka, the chairman of SCARC, presented the plaque and spoke of Papandrea’s efforts on behalf of her students.

The hallmark of Papandrea’s classroom is the effort she makes to motivate her students with challenging material — projects and programs — that demand from her students their very best. “By challenging my students, I am better preparing them for the upcoming grade level challenges. In my 18 years of teaching, I have taught first through eighth grades; this has allowed me to know what skills the students coming to me have, and what they need from me in the current year to be successful in the next," she said. Papandrea received her bachelor's degree from William Paterson in 1998 and her master’s degree from Mary Grove University in 2005. She has worked in the Vernon School District for all of her 18 years and is a graduate of Vernon Township High School. As a teacher at Lounsberry Hollow Middle School, she is looked to as a leader and is often doing collaborative work with her colleagues. Papandrea is also a teacher that is indefatigable in her efforts to make the school a place of learning and compassion. She serves on Lounsberry’s PARCC Committee, the TIPS Committee and the IEP Direct Committee.