- March 26, 2025
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Stacy Freeman had trouble accepting the fact she was named as a finalist for the School District of Manatee County 2025 Educator of the Year award.
She was similarly stunned when she was announced as the winner at the Excellence in Education Awards at Manatee Technical College Feb. 5.
Now in her 18th year of teaching at Gilbert W. McNeal Elementary, Freeman said her efforts were no different than any of her peers at McNeal or anywhere else throughout the county.
“I was so nervous, and I did not expect to win at all, honestly,” said Freeman, who was given a trophy and a check for $5,000 from the Suncoast Credit Union. “Like the one support employee said, we’re just doing our job. It doesn’t feel like anything extra to me. I started this just thinking that it would be great to get a certificate and a picture and my husband (Mark Freeman) would get to come.
“To be a finalist was great, but I absolutely expected them to say someone else’s name. It was shocking, like I was in a dream.”
Freeman's coworkers haven’t had difficulty seeing what makes her so deserving.
Third grade teacher Tina Peters has worked alongside Freeman for several years.
She said some of the first words that come to mind when she thinks about Freeman are ‘energetic, giving and thoughtful.’
“She is someone who will drop everything to be there for you,” Peters said. “She’s a mentor to every person who comes in. I might be the team leader, but I go to her for a lot of my questions because she’s one of those people who has been there and done that and is willing to share everything she knows.”
Much of what makes Freeman stand out among her peers is the extra work she does beyond the school bells, her colleagues said.
Some of those endeavors include a monthly book club, a ‘Battle of the Books’ event, a Heritage Day event and parents nights.
She also makes an effort to stay in touch with former students, whether that be attending a student’s sporting event or showing up to another’s baby shower.
“I’ve never met anyone like her who touches the students the way she does,” McNeal Principal Sheila Waid said. “She genuinely loves them and they come back year after year to see her. She goes behind the scenes and does so much for so many people.”
Waid, now in her third year as principal at McNeal Elementary, said Freeman also treats her colleagues with the same affection that she gives to her students.
“I just had a staff member come into my office who is a new teacher who came here in October,” Waid said. “She was in tears because she has been teaching for 20 years and she had never had a colleague like Stacy Freeman, who is her mentor teacher.
“She said, ‘She’s always in my room just to listen and talk to me and give me hugs and tell me how great I’m doing.’ And that’s Stacy Freeman. She’s a cheerleader for not just her students, but all of her colleagues as well. I mean, how lucky am I? How lucky is McNeal and our community to have her as our cheerleader?”
Freeman’s supporters had a chance to reverse roles and be her cheerleader during the Excellence in Education awards ceremony.
A hearty contingent of coworkers, students, friends and family members showed up and they weren’t shy about showing some love.
When Freeman was announced as the winner, several of her third-grade students broke out in chants of ‘Miss Free-man’ before joining her on stage as she accepted her award.
“It meant so much,” Freeman said of her students showing up to Manatee Technical College on a school night. “They’re the reason we do this, so to have them here is the icing on the cake.”
Freeman will now advance to the Florida Department of Education Teacher of the Year program.
