Mario Marrero received the honor last night of being chosen as Hartford’s 2013 Teacher of the Year at the annual banquet in the Marriott Hartford Downtown Hotel.
Marrero, the lead teacher of the Science Department at Betances says, “Teaching is my passion and I take pride and joy in what I do.”
The fourth-grade teacher at the Betances STEM Magnet School began his teaching career in Hartford, straight out of college, at what was known as the Annie Fisher Magnet School of Multiple Intelligences. He moved on after two years to what was known as the Milner Core Knowledge Academy, where he taught for four years.
A press release from the Hartford Public Schools says that Marrero “credits his time at Milner for making him the teacher that he is today.”
Milner received attention last year after it was handed over to the Commissioner’s Network as a “failing” school, then turned into the Jumoke Academy at Milner which is managed by a private charter management organization. The question cannot not be asked: how could such a respected, qualified, effective, and devoted teacher spend most of his teaching career in a “failing” school?