News Details (Posted: April 26, 2006):

District Five teacher named state teacher of the year

Full Description:

Jennifer "Buffy" Murphy, a fifth-grade teacher at Irmo Elementary School in School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties, was named South Carolina Teacher of the Year last Friday. State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum made the announcement at a banquet at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center that honored the state's 83 district teachers of the year. As State Teacher of the Year for the 2006-07 school year, Murphy will participate in a yearlong residency at the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement (CERRA) and represent South Carolina's 50,000 teachers. She also receives a $25,000 cash award, a 2006 BMW Z-4 roadster to use for the year and a SMART board (an interactive whiteboard that turns a computer and projector into a teaching and presentation tool). Through a sponsorship from the Notre Dame Club of the Western Carolinas, she will attend Notre Dame's prestigious three-day Excellence in Teaching Symposium held each October at the historic campus in South Bend, Indiana. In addition, she was awarded a Dell laptop computer and a set of Michelin tires.