Magnolia School District Superintendent, Dr. Donavan stated that “Mrs. Brennan is always on her feet teaching. Her students show tremendous progress year after year. She is truly an exemplary teacher.”
According to Dr. Cathery Yeh, Assistant Professor at Chapman University, “Melissa deserves to be recognized not only for her exemplary work in the classroom but for her role in paving a way to support all teachers, both general education and special education teachers, to deepen their knowledge and skills to creating classrooms that are inclusive, rigorous, joyful and problem-based.”
Magnolia School District had previous Orange County Teacher of the Finalists. Mr. Tim Thomas in 2007 and Mrs. Lori Hernandez in 2010 while Mrs. Sherry Todorovic was a Semifinalist in 2019.
Melissa will now compete for California State Teacher of the Year. All 2020 Teachers of the year will be honored in a Ceremony at the Disneyland Hotel on November 1st, 2019.