Staff Report

Batesville Middle School teacher Paula Tribble was named South Panola School District’s 2018-19 Teacher of the Year this week. Administrators from the central office came to her classroom Tuesday to give her the news.

“It was really funny because my first thought was, ‘Are they here to see me teach? Are they here to tell me something?’ Then Mr. Wilder gave me the great honor of being named South Panola School District Teacher of the Year and I was very shocked,” she said.

The school district names teachers of the year for each of it’s six schools at the end of the first semester of the academic year and chooses an overall district-wide teacher from that group. South Panola will submit paperwork for Tribble in hopes she is chosen as teacher of the year for the State of Mississippi.

Tribble is a 17-year classroom veteran -11 of which have been at Batesville Middle. “I get to teach with some of the best teachers in the State of Mississippi, in one of the best school and districts in the state,” Tribble said. “It was a real honor to be chosen among my peers when I know how awesome my peers are.”

Tribble has a degree in public relations and communications from Mississippi State University, but when she spent time as an assistant teacher years ago she realized she really wanted a “classroom of my own.”

She earned an education degree taking night classes at Delta State University and Union University to pursue a teaching career.

BMS principal Chad Lindamood said Tribble is a valuable part of the school’s faculty. “In addition to demanding excellence in the classroom she serves on the curriculum development teach each year. She also dedicates her time to assisting other teachers by sharing resources and ideas to improve student learning on her own.”

Tribble and her husband Dave have been married for 22 years. Their daughter, Sara Grace, is an 8th grader at Batesville Junior High School.