The Burroughs Wellcome Fund named Kimberly Jones, a teacher at Chapel Hill High School, its 2023 North Carolina Teacher of the Year — marking the second time in three years a Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools educator has won the honor.

Jones’ selection was announced during a ceremony Friday afternoon hosted by the state Department of Public Instruction. The English teacher was among nine finalists up for the award, after she won the district and regional Teacher of the Year award in recent months.

During an acceptance speech for the award, Jones credited her family, friends and peers at Chapel Hill High for their support and “unwavering love.”

“As an African American woman, from a single-parent, rural, working-class background,” she said, “I know firsthand the transformative power of education and the impact of hardworking educators to change lives.”

“We are beaming with joy for Mrs. Jones, as well as her Chapel Hill High School students, her colleagues and all of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools,” said Superintendent Nyah Hamlett, who sat beside Jones during the ceremony. “Mrs. Jones is an equity-centered teacher who fosters an outstanding culture of community in her classroom that makes every student feel valued. She is a well-respected educator of educators, and I am so excited and proud to see her honored as the North Carolina Teacher of the Year!”

Kimberly Jones accepts her 2023 Teacher of the Year award from North Carolina Superintendent Catherine Truitt on April 14, 2023. (Photo via Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.)

Kimberly Jones (center) stands with members of her family and CHCCS colleagues, including district Superintendent Nyah Hamlett (far left). (Photo via Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.)

Jones is a 17-year teaching veteran — all at Chapel Hill High School. She’s previously also won the Bernadine Sullivan Chair for Excellence in Teaching High School English or Social Studies and the 2021 Equity Equals Excellence Award from the district’s Minority Student Achievement Network. During a conversation with 97.9 The Hill in 2022, she revealed that she commutes to Chapel Hill each day for southern Virginia for her job, saying, “The drive is worth it when you’re driving into a community that values education at this level.”

The latest CHCCS educator to win the statewide Teacher of the Year award was Scroggs Elementary teacher Eugenia Floyd. The fourth-grade teacher and East Chapel Hill High School alumna earned the honor in 2021.

Each Teacher of the Year winner spends the following school year traveling North Carolina as an ambassador. Jones will be supported by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund — a medical research non-profit based in the Research Triangle Park — and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Additional prizes include a new vehicle, a cash award and a trip to the National Teacher of the Year Conference.

 

Photo via Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

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