ADE Commissioner Johnny Key, Emma Mateo, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson

A teacher at Pinnacle View, the new Little Rock School District middle school in west Little Rock, was one of four semifinalists statewide in the 2016 Arkansas Teacher of the Year competition. She is Emma Mateo, who was named the 2016 Marian G. Lacey Educator of the year in the Little Rock system. Mateo was honored for her work in special education last year at Otter Creek Elementary School, where she taught before her transfer to Pinnacle.

Mateo received a plaque from Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Arkansas Department of Education Commissioner Johnny Key, and qualified for the state Teacher of the Year Award. That prize went to Courtney Cochran, who teaches Spanish at Van Buren High School in western Arkansas.

Other finalists were from Springdale and Lake Hamilton. At Pinnacle View, Mateo chairs the School Based Intervention Team and helps English and math teachers in educating children with special needs.


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