SHS Art teacher gets system's top honor;

some question the choice

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Very rarely does the selection of the Teacher of the Year so transparently cause tension among teaching colleagues. According to those who spoke to The Southington High School Alumni Connect!, this year is the exception.

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Sara Levinthal-O'Farrell, a teacher in the Southington High School Art Department since 2001, has been named the school system's Teacher of the Year. Though the designation carries no official duties and does little except to perk up a resume, some of Levinthal-O'Farrell's colleagues are voicing their frustration over the choice and being excluded from offering their two cents in the process.

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According to sources who spoke to the Alumni Connect!, Southington High School principal Kathleen McGrath was not even aware that one of her own teachers had been named the system's Teacher of the Year. And Art Department chairman Tom Horanzy, dismayed by the selection, refused to comment for a recent newspaper article. In addition to the selection process, some question why other teachers with greater teaching experience and more laudable classroom techniques were overlooked for the honor. "Every year someone has something to complain about," said one teacher. "But this year [those complaints] seem to carry a little more weight. It's like this year they just pulled a name out of a hat."

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Even a press release from the board of education seemed hard-pressed to brag about the choice. It credits Levinthal-O'Farrell with using "innovative projects to inspire her students." It also notes that in addition to regular art classes, she has taught Advanced Placement art courses in which students receive college credit for work they do at the high school.

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Levinthal-O'Farrell was hired in 2001 after Horanzy succeeded veteran Art teacher Ralph Grimaldi as department chairman. Grimaldi had retired over the summer.

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The Teacher of the Year will be recognized at a staff convocation in August and at a board of education meeting after school begins.