ELKINS — This year’s nominees for Service Personnel of the Year and Teacher of the Year were honored by the Randolph County Board of Education during their most recent meeting.

The winners of both categories were announced back in May, as Samantha Phipps, a World Language teacher at Elkins High School, was selected as the county’s Teacher of the Year, and Brian Paugh, a custodian at Jennings Randolph Elementary School, was recognized as the best service employee in the county. 

“We are going to start tonight off with something very exciting. We are going to recognize our Service Personnel and our Teacher of the Year nominees for the county,” Denise Fletcher, Director of Personnel & Human Resources, told those attending the most recent BOE meeting. “We have already announced our Teacher of the Year and Service Personnel of the Year, but we wanted to take this opportunity to recognize all of the important people who are in the room tonight.”

Each nominee in both categories were announced and received a certificate from Randolph County Schools Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly. 

The 2025 Service Personnel of the Year Nominees included: Stephanie Scott (Beverly Elementary), Secretary; Steven Collins (Transportation), Bus Operator; Crystal Bodkin (Coalton Elementary), ECCAT; Christina Currence (County Office), Secretary;  Tishonna Collett (Elkins High School), Custodian; Haley Oliphant (Elkins Middle School), Secretary; Brandy Close (George Ward Elementary), ECCAT; Dana Bennett (Harman School), Secretary; James Arbogast (Bus Garage), Mechanic; Anita Wiseman (Midland Elementary), Secretary; Barbie Hedrick (North Elementary), ECCAT; Melody Greenway (Pickens School), Secretary/Custodian; Cynthia Brown (Third Ward Elementary), Aide; and Faith Hardy-Pritt (Tygarts Valley Middle High School), Cook.

The 2025 Teacher of the Year Nominees included: Kelli Dyer (Beverly Elementary), Title I teacher; Lisa Fox (Coalton Elementary), Kindergarten teacher; Christina Harris (Elkins Middle), Math; Brad Walters (George Ward Elementary), Special Ed. teacher; Patty Teter (Harman), Fourth/Fifth-Grade teacher; Christena Malcomb (Jennings Randolph Elementary), First-Grade teacher; Hannah Shiflett (Midland Elementary), Music teacher; Brittany McCray (North Elementary), Kindergarten /1st Grade teacher; Ellen Shepherd (Third Ward Elementary), Special Education teacher; and Lucy Godwin (Tygarts Valley Middle High School), Sixth-Grade teacher.

The next Randolph County Board of Education meeting will be held on June 17 at 5:30 p.m.