AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Education, in partnership with Educate Maine, recently named three teachers as state finalists for Maine’s 2016 Teacher of the Year. They were chosen from this year’s 16 County Teachers of the Year who were named in May at a celebration at the State House Hall of Flags.

The state finalists are:

Cumberland: Talya Edlund, Pond Cove Elementary School, Cape Elizabeth

Franklin: Brenda LaVerdiere, Academy Hill School, Wilton

Piscataquis: Mia Morrison, Foxcroft Academy, Dover-Foxcroft

The process going forward for the state finalists include personal interviews and a school site visit before the 2016 Maine Teacher of the Year is selected. Review panels during the selection process consist of past Teachers of the Year, school administrators, Department staff, and members of professional education organizations and the business community. The 2016 Maine Teacher of the Year will be announced at a surprise all-school assembly in October.

The Maine Teacher of the Year is a program of the Maine Department of Education and is administered and managed by Educate Maine, a business-led organization working to ensure Maine’s students and workers are the best educated and highly skilled in the world. The program has received longtime support from the Maine State Board of Education and the Maine State Teacher of the Year Association. You can view an overview of the Maine Teacher of the Year program here.

Maine’s Teacher of the Year program has receives generous financial support of Bangor Savings Bank and Dead River, Geiger and Hannaford.

Biographical information and photos of the 16 County Teachers of the Year can be found at: mainetoy.org/2015-county-teachers-of-the-year.html. For more information about the Teacher of the Year program, please contact Dolly Sullivan at Educate Maine at 207-631-3385 or Dolly@EducateMaine.org .