Oak Park teacher misses out on Teacher of the Year nod

Oak Park School's Shane Swezey was not selected, but is happy with being a finalist.

By Brynn Mechem
| 9:47 a.m. July 19, 2019

One student felt unsure about how she looked trying to play an air guitar, so Swezey grabbed one of his real ones to help her feel more comfortable. Sam Chaney

Sarasota
News

The results are in and Dr. Dakeyan Chá Dré Graham, a band director at C. Leon King High School in Tampa was named the 2020 Florida Teacher of the Year.

Graham, one of five finalists, holds a Ph.D. in music education from the University of South Florida. One of the other finalists was Shane Swezey, a music teacher at Oak Park School since 2013.

Swezey was honored in December 2018 as the Sarasota County Schools Teacher of the Year for his continued work as a music therapy teacher.

While Swezey wasn’t named the winner, in a previous Observer interview, he said he hopes he could use his finalist platform to help students.

“I just hope I can use [the award] as a kind of spotlight on our students, on special needs students in general,” Swezey said. “A lot of times it’s a voiceless population, and I hope I can be a small voice in their stories and in their needs.”