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State Board honors 11 teachers, unveils 'United States of Kindness' partnership
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Summary
The State Board of Education recognized an 11-member Ohio Teacher of the Year cohort, announced the state winner, and introduced a Values in Action partnership to promote a 2026 'United States of Kindness' campaign for schools.
President Larew opened the State Board of Education ceremony by welcoming families, school staff and "our Ohio teacher of the year cohort," and recounted early Ohio education history to frame the day's recognitions. "I would like to welcome family, friends, school folks, and most importantly, our Ohio teacher of the year cohort," the president said at the start of the program.
Angela, the coordinator of the Ohio Teacher of the Year program, outlined how the cohort was selected and stressed that nominations are open to the public. "Did you know anybody can nominate a teacher? Anybody," she said, describing a process that begins with classroom nominations, proceeds through regional selection panels and yields an 11-member state cohort and four finalists.
Ohio's State Superintendent praised the cohort and emphasized the role of kindness in classrooms, saying that the teachers' "love for Ohio students" and "that love, that kindness... it just shines through." The superintendent noted the scale of Ohio public education while framing the recognition as a way to promote high-quality instruction for Ohio's roughly 1.6 million students.
The board also announced a renewed partnership with Values in Action and its Kindland initiative. Stuart Mazinski, chief executive officer of Values in Action, urged Ohio to lead a national push tied to the group's "United States of Kindness" effort, calling kindness the "central core" that holds communities together and urging schools to pursue a goal of 250 acts of kindness in 2026.
A pre-recorded message from retired Gen. David Petraeus accompanied the launch video; Petraeus described kindness as "rooted in understanding and compassion" and urged public support for the initiative. The board and Values in Action also debuted the cohort's Kindness Impact Statements video featuring the 11 district honorees describing classroom projects and community outreach.
Board members introduced each district honoree in a sequence of short bios and onstage remarks. Highlights included Kyle Van Camp of Willard Middle School (District 1), recognized for hands-on history programming including a Revolutionary War enactment; Joshua Amstutz (District 4), who spoke about family teaching lineage and global education programming; Chip Collins (District 10), who described his classroom motivation; Jenny Potts (District 8), noted for schoolwide literacy projects and little libraries; Chad Thatcher (District 6), a finalist who emphasized expanding college-credit opportunities; Chris Doran (District 9), who leads interactive multimedia and a student-produced children's show; and Sarah Dreibulbis (District 11), whose fifth-grade students participate in environmental and career-focused capstone work.
Organizers said the cohort will have several follow-up opportunities this year, including an invitation to join an Ohio teacher leader liaison network through the Department of Education and Workforce and a cohort luncheon with the governor scheduled at noon. Angela described additional cohort events including professional learning, a legacy network and public-facing activities tied to the kindness campaign.
At the end of the ceremony the State Board announced the state's Ohio Teacher of the Year as "Chris"; the transcript renders the winner's surname inconsistently (appearing as both "Moser" and "Mansour" in successive lines). The board will publish an official release with the winner's verified spelling and biography.
Why this matters: The recognition highlights individual classroom practices and elevates an explicit statewide push—backed by a nonprofit partner and a public figure's recorded message—to make acts of kindness a measurable part of school culture during the nation's 250th anniversary year in 2026. The cohort will serve as ambassadors for that effort and participate in state-level outreach and professional opportunities.
The ceremony concluded with photos and a reminder of immediate logistics: a cohort lunch with the governor, followed by scheduled cohort activities, videos and further public events. No board votes or formal policy changes were recorded during the event; the gathering was a recognition and partnership announcement.
