Sacramento County's 16 district Teachers of the Year 2005 were honored at ARCO Arena Friday, February 4, during halftime of the Sacramento Kings vs. New York Knicks game.
The Teachers of the Year were featured in a special halftime ceremony before a capacity Kings crowd of 17,317. Officials from Maloof Sports and Entertainment and Teacher Appreciation Night sponsors NECA-IBEW and HealthNet joined County Superintendent David W. Gordon, Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell in recognizing the Teachers of the Year on the basketball court. Representing the players was Sacramento Kings center Greg Ostertag, who posed for commemorative photos with the teachers. Special recognition was given to Barbara Harris (Folsom Cordova Unified School District) and Asa Salley (Sacramento City Unified School District) who were selected to represent Sacramento County in the statewide Teachers of the Year Program. Barbara Harris was named a California Teacher of the Year semi-finalist.
For more than a decade, the Sacramento Kings organization has supported recognition of the area's outstanding teachers. NECA-IBEW (National Electrical Contractors Association-International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) and HealthNet partner with the Sacramento Kings to salute the teachers. At a pre-game chalk talk reception hosted by Maloof Sports and Entertainment and the sponsors for the teachers and their guests, Kings assistant coach Pete Carril — himself a former teacher — shared his experiences as an educator and mentor. Karen Robinson-Salley, Maloof Sports and Entertainment director of community services and public relations, announced at the reception that through the teacher appreciation program, each teacher would receive a financial contribution of $250 from the sponsors.
The Sacramento County Teachers of the Year program is coordinated annually by the Sacramento County Office of Education to recognize the achievements of local educators and to raise awareness of the valuable role that teachers play in the lives of their students and in the community.