Congratulations to Sunnyside Elementary reading and math interventionist Sara Medalen who was named North Dakota Teacher of the Year for 2020. She is clearly a deserving recipient and obviously an excellent, innovative teacher who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to best serve her students and thus all of Minot.

Sara would likely agree that all teachers deserve to be considered teachers of the year.

Teachers face more challenges today than perhaps any time in history. Broken homes, the impact of drugs and other social ills inevitably lead to a percentage of students with behavioral problems. Right here in Minot, teachers complain about being physically attacked by students – something probably unimaginable to those who went to school in decades past. Demand for special needs educators is high.

There are plenty of other modern challenges for teachers. Tight budgets that often lead to teachers having to buy supplies for their own classrooms.

It is perhaps ironic that over the past decade-plus, classrooms in many schools have been equipped with new technology, while at the same time Business Insider reports the average teacher spends around $500 a year on things like chalk and crayons. Some teachers are even using social media to try to raise money to offset their classroom costs.

Minot also isn’t the only city in which overcrowding is an issue, and here there seems little public enthusiasm for a bond issue to address infrastructure needs. Numerous studies have found that overcrowded classrooms affect student performance, which in turn makes teachers’ jobs more challenging.

Teaching has never been an easy job and it has always been an important job. These days, it might be both harder and more important.

Terrific teachers like Sara Medalen deserve recognition and admiration for achieving even faced with all of the modern challenges.

All teachers are teachers of the year, every year, everywhere.