Former Fargoan named Alabama's Teacher of the Year

A fourth grade teacher at Eden Elementary School in Pell City, Ala., has been named the state's Teacher of the Year by the Alabama State Board of Education.

But why would we give you news about a state that's over 1,300 miles away?

Andy Jackson, Alabama's Teacher of the Year, is actually from the F-M area.

"I graduated from Oak Grove," he said. "My plan was to stay around the Fargo area. I worked at the YMCA and Flint Child Care Center in Fargo, and I've been involved in the Boy Scout program there."

But plans have a tendency to change, and all it took for Jackson's plan to change, was a college visit over Thanksgiving break his senior year."

"We stopped by a school in Birmingham for the morning," said Jackson. "I liked it, but I figured that's too far away, there's no way I'm moving across the country."

Jackson applied to the college anyway — more to be able to say he tried getting in than to actually go to the school — and was accepted. He graduated from that university and applied to the University of North Dakota for his Master's program, where he planned on staying until he could get a job working in the Fargo Public School district.

"Upon graduating, (Fargo Schools) said they had a resident teacher position in the special ed program at a middle school," Jackson said. "And I was also offered a job in Alabama. I remember going to my grandmother and asking for advice, and she said 'I think you know what you're supposed to do. If you don't follow where you're supposed to go, you're not going to do the things you're supposed to do.' So it was at that point that I kind of resigned myself to at least teaching my first year in Alabama."

It was during that first year of teaching that Jackson met a child he would later end up adopting, helping to direct his passion for mental health, education and foster care. Jackson even got his foster care license to try and care for this student, who lived in 17 different foster homes between the ages of 5 and 12.

"That was kind of the catalyst for my education philosophy," Jackson said. "I've always had the philosophy that every child can learn, every child has value, every child deserves the best we have to offer, but that was really a tangible chance to say 'hey, you can put your money where your mouth is and prove this is true.'"

Through adoption and fostering, Jackson and his wife, Sheree, have expanded their family — eight children live in their home full time, with four of them being adopted through foster care, one being a foster child and three being biological children of Sheree from a previous marriage.

It's the perfect platform for this fourth grade teacher who holds a master's degree from University of North Dakota's special education strategist program. He's a nationally board-certified teacher in exceptional needs in special ed.

"So while I teach fourth grade, because of the children that I have, I've always had a heart and passion for special education," he said.

He also serves on a Mental Health Advisory committee, which works to provide mental health resources to school systems to allow them to address those types of needs in children, an interest that was started just over the river in Moorhead.

"I worked for a place called Solutions Behavioral, Incorporated," he said. "I worked there for two or three summers, and that's what sparked my interest in doing that full time. One of these days, I told myself when I retired and moved back to North Dakota, I'm going to get a job working at Solutions, but I ended up staying down here."

The 33-year-old isn't a full timer down in Alabama, though. He and his family make the trek north during the summers to visit family and give them a taste of the Midwest way of life, including a love of Taco John's and a loyalty to the Minnesota Vikings and University of Minnesota Gopher football.

In fact, the northern half of the country seems to be lucky for Jackson. Besides being from the area, he also got news of his award while up north.

"I was in Minneapolis the first time (they called), and then it was a few weeks later that I was back up in Fargo, and they said 'Hey, can you interview, wherever you are,'" said Andy Jackson. "I was like 'Hey, Comfort Suites,' — I flew with a suit, which I never do, and I asked them if I could use their conference room to give a look of professionalism and they said 'Yeah, nobody's using it.' So that was really cool."

The national Teacher of the Year announcement won't be made until January 2021, but Jackson has plenty to keep him busy until then. He's taking this school year away from the classroom to focus on speaking workshops and professional development for teachers.

But he still urges people, especially in the COVID era, to look for ways to help out.

"Everybody has a role to help our children grow into who they need to be," he said. "Not everybody can be a teacher, not everybody wants to teach, and not everybody can be a foster parent or wants to be a foster parent, but maybe they know a foster parent that needs clothes for a kid or needs a new pair of shoes — there's always a way to help. My message has always been to bring those waves out wherever you can, whatever your job is, look for the ways to make a positive impact on kids."