ST. PETERSBURG — David Martinez-Cooley had turned away from the crowd and was whispering to a student onstage at Mahaffey Theater when the announcement boomed through the speakers: He was Pinellas County’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.
He snapped his head forward and, with a grin suggesting disbelief, came to the microphone: “I am completely stunned.”
The Leila Davis Elementary music teacher first congratulated nine other finalists for the award who were standing behind him, then thanked all the other teachers working in schools across the county for being “teacher of the year” for their students every day. (Read more)