Schools

Northeast Cobb Teachers Receive Honors

They were surprised by Teacher of the Year announcements Wednesday at Rocky Mount and Lassiter.

Tracie Bucy of Rocky Mount Elementary School and Cathy Zingler of Lassiter High School were named Cobb Teachers of the Year at their respective school levels Wednesday morning. 

They received the surprise honors from Cobb school superintendent Michael Hinojosa as teachers reported for planning activities.

Bucy, a lifelong Cobb resident, has taught in the Cobb County School District for 18 years, and has been a kindergarten teacher at Rocky Mount since 2005. Previously, she taught at Baker and Cheatham Hill elementary schools. 

Keeping the news from Bucy took considerable planning. Members of her family, the media and Cobb school district officials here huddled in a room away from the Rocky Mount library as teachers began their meetings. 

Hinojosa told them about the school's most recent test scores, then changed the subject as Rocky Mount principal Gail May prompted Bucy to come forward. The room full of teachers erupted into thunderous applause. 

A short time later, and just a mile away, Zingler and her fellow Lassiter teachers met in the cafeteria for breakfast when Hinojosa arrived, bearing similar good news.

As she explains in the video, she thought the school was receiving an honor when she saw "the big wigs" come through the door. 

Instead, she was the second Lassiter teacher in as many years to be voted the Cobb high school teacher of the year. Among her greeters was Beth Morgan, last year's overall Cobb teacher of the year. 

Zingler, who has taught in Cobb schools since 1996, is starting her 15th year at Lassiter as a special education teacher and as a cheerleading coach. She taught for three years at Wheeler. 

Bucy and Zingler are now finalists for Cobb teacher of the year, along with Rhonda Lokey of Campbell Middle School. A social studies teacher, she previoiusly taught at Dodgen Middle School in East Cobb. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Northeast Cobb