One teacher from each county was selected as a finalist for the department's Teacher of the Year award.
The teachers demonstrate "exemplary" educational leadership qualities seen in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy said.
A panel of educators will select the Teacher of the Year in October.
Finalists are:
- Atlantic: Leslie Kronemeyer: Mainland Regional High School Spanish teacher
- Bergen: Leah Jerome, Pascack Valley High School social studies teacher
- Burlington: Michelle-Anne Spring, Hawthorne Park Elementary School fourth-grade teacher
- Camden: Kimberly Dickstein, Haddonfield Memorial High School an English teacher
- Cape May: Thomas Belasco, Lower Cape May Regional High School English teacher
- Cumberland: Amanda McCloskey, West Avenue School math teacher
- Essex: Yanelis Cabaleiro-Rempusheski, Belleville School #3 special education teacher
- Gloucester: Brittany Mason, Washington Township High School social studies teacher
- Hudson: Martha Noriette Garcia, Jersey City Academy 1 Middle School visual arts teacher
- Hunterdon: Therese Squicciarini, Flemington-Raritan's J.P. Case Middle School special education teacher
- Mercer: Helen Corveleyn, Hopewell Elementary School STEM teacher
- Middlesex: Jennifer Olawski, Livingston Elementary School health and physical education teacher
- Monmouth: Beth English, Freehold Township High School English teacher
- Morris: Sarah Guza, Lincoln Park Middle School math teacher
- Ocean: Kelly Cerbone, Brick's Lake Riviera Middle School math and science teacher
- Passaic: Patrick Slater, Wayne Valley High School technology teacher
- Salem: Tracy Demarest, Pilesgrove's William Roper School special education teacher
- Somerset: Suzanne Updegrove, Branchburg Central Middle School gifted and talented teacher
- Sussex: Jennifer Caputo, Sparta's Helen Morgan Elementary School fifth grade teacher
- Union: Bryan Lowe, Clark's Valley Road Elementary School fifth grade teacher
- Warren: Debra Koch, Belvidere High School family consumer science teacher
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