Jacqueline Sanderson, an English Language Development teacher at Belle Grove Elementary School, tonight was named the 2025 Anne Arundel County Public Schools Teacher of the Year. The announcement came before a record crowd of more than 700 people at the culmination of the 39th annual Excellence in Education Awards held at the Live! Event Center at Arundel Mills.
Sanderson has worked for AACPS since 2013, beginning her career at Hilltop Elementary School before moving to Belle Grove Elementary School in 2022. She has become known as a fierce supporter and ardent advocate of multilingual learners who goes the extra mile to create opportunities for students that help them better grasp instructional topics and the world around them.
“Our multilingual students are not challenges to overcome. They are the assets to our classrooms, our schools, and our communities,” Sanderson said to raucous applause moments after winning the award. “It’s up to us to make sure every voice is heard, and every student’s potential is realized.”
Sanderson has been a loud voice in that work inside and outside of the classroom. She also has facilitated community resource nights, monthly events and field trips for multilingual students and their families.
“She is committed to supporting multilingual learners through authentic and creative activities throughout the school day,” Belle Grove Elementary School Principal Keri Allen wrote in her letter nominating Sanderson. “She uses a multi-tiered approach to help her students succeed and provides push-in support in the classroom so that students transfer the strategies from the English Language Development class to the general education classroom.”
Sanderson is the first Belle Grove Elementary School teacher to win the award and the first teacher from the North County cluster to be named Teacher of the Year since Emily Davis of Brooklyn Park Middle School in 2020.
Sanderson thanked many who she said helped her along the way, including her fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Austin, of whom she said: “If I can inspire one student the way you inspired me, that would be my greatest success.”
She also thanked her first principal, former Hilltop Principal Louise DeJesu, who she said “taught me that every child has a story, and that real learning starts when we meet their most basic needs.”
Sanderson will now represent AACPS in the Maryland Teacher of the Year competition. AACPS has had three of the last eight Maryland Teacher of the Year winners: Mary Kay Connerton of Annapolis High School (2023), Teresa Beilstein of South Shore Elementary School (2020) and Josh Carroll of South River High School (2018). AACPS Teachers of the Year have also been finalists for Maryland Teacher of the Year in eight of the last 10 years.
In all, 76 teachers from public and private schools and four principals were recognized during this year’s Excellence in Education program. Other finalists for this year’s Anne Arundel County Public Schools Teacher of the Year honor were:
Khalifah J. Carter, AVID, Meade Middle School
Sarah DelSignore, Music, Northeast High School
Cecilia Miga, World Language, Annapolis High School
Laura Palermo, Kindergarten, Benfield Elementary School
Catie Russo, Art, Broadneck High School
Also at the event, Ruth Parker Eason School Principal Amy Guerke was honored with the George Arlotto Leadership Award as the 2025 Principal of the Year and Gillian Moore, a teacher at St. Mary’s Elementary School, was named 2025 Independent Schools Teacher of the Year.