Three St. Tammany Parish teachers of the year, one each from elementary, middle/junior high and high school, were introduced Thursday to the School Board.

Tina Neal, a physical education teacher at Chahta-Ima Elementary School in Lacombe, was named Elementary Teacher of the Year. Kimberly Keller, English language arts and social studies teacher at Lee Road Junior High, was named Middle/Junior High Teacher of the Year, and Deborah Tonguis, a geography and psychology teacher at Mandeville High School, is this year’s High School Teacher of the Year. Tonguis went on to win the state Teacher of the Year award, presented in August.

A teacher for 18 years and at Chahta-Ima the past six years, Neal is a member of the American Association of Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance, the Chahta-Ima PTA and the St. Tammany Federation of Teachers and School Employees and is a past state official of Special Olympics and GUMBO, Games Uniting Minds and Bodies.

Pictured are the St. Tammany Parish Teachers of the Year, from left, Tina Neal, Deborah Tonguis and Kimberly Keller. (Photo courtesy of STPSB)

She developed a kindergarten motor lab at Chahta-Ima and is co-chairing an effort to build a new play structure at the school, including local fundraising and writing two grants for funding. She believes in the importance of play for health and development of social skills such as turn-taking, empathy and leadership.

Deborah Rushing, the school’s principal, said in Neal’s motor lab, she correlates academic skills being learned in the classroom with play and movement in a manner that’s fun, positive and physically and mentally stimulating.

Keller has taught for 27 years, the past three at Lee Road. Professional association memberships include the Louisiana Association of Teachers of Mathematics, Louisiana Science Teachers and the Louisiana Reading Association. In addition to middle/junior high Teacher of the Year, Keller was also named Elks Club Teacher of the Year for Lee Road School in 2006-2007 and was named in Who’s Who of American Teachers twice.

Keller said the world is full of history and science and literature, and everything is interconnected and can be fascinating if presented as such.

She said, “It is this love of wisdom that I hope to impart to all of my students.”

Tonguis has 26 years of teaching experience, six at Mandeville High. In addition to belonging to the American Federation of Teachers, she belongs o the National Association of Developmental Education, College Reading and Learning Association, Association of Christian Schools International, National Geographic Society EdNet, and O Ambassadors for World Change.

Tonguis has facilitated workshops in leadership and professional development and is a LaTAAP mentor and department head for social studies. As sponsor for the service club Tri Theta, Tonguis has trained and accompanied her junior and senior girls in the organization to various local service activities, including serving Christmas dinner to senior citizens, a Christmas with Santa program for young children at Lakeview Regional Medical Center, filling backpacks with school supplies for low income schoolchildren in New Orleans and helping children living in foster care.

Tonguis has said the teaching profession is facing a number of challenges, including a decline in the number of teachers while the need for teachers is growing.

At her state Teacher of the Year reception, she said, “We are no longer just teachers, but the facilitators of a new global consciousness.”