12 Educators Named Teachers of the Year

A dozen Los Angeles County educators have been honored as 1998-1999 teachers of the year. They will compete next month against 65 other educators statewide to represent California in a national competition, said contest organizers.

Donald W. Ingwerson, the L.A. County superintendent of schools, said in announcing the winners: “The 12 winning teachers have been given one of the most cherished honors a professional can receive--the admiration and respect of peers.”

The winning teachers are:

* John K. Bartke, an American literature and history teacher at Littlerock High School.

* Ingrid Boydston, a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Santa Clarita Elementary School.

* Sandra Smiley Burch, fifth-grade teacher at Longley Way Elementary School in Arcadia.

* Carolyn L. Dunn, an art and film teacher at Temple City High School.

* Jennifer Aston Flores, a ninth- through 12th-grade alternative education teacher at the East Los Angeles Alternative Education Center.

* Jo Anne Koch, a mathematics teacher at Clark Science and Technology Magnet High School in Glendale.

* Dionne Myers, an English teacher at Baldwin Park High School.

* Cathy L. Nese, a language arts teacher at South Pasadena Middle School.

* Elizabeth Serrao, a seventh- through 12th-grade teacher of life skills, child development and parenting at Santana Alternative Education Center.

* Connie M. Smith, a second-grade teacher at Rancho Vista Elementary School in Palos Verdes Peninsula.

* Wesley A. Thomas, a science teacher at Joe Walker Middle School in Quartz Hill.

* Barbara T. Williams, a kindergarten through fifth-grade special education teacher at Williams Elementary School in Glendora.