Donna Emmons, a teacher at DeKalb County High School, was named Teacher of the Year in DeKalb County Thursday night at the fifth annual Teacher of the Year banquet at Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church in Smithville.Emmons has been a teacher in the freshman academy since its inception six years ago.She teaches English I, Journalism, and advises the student media program, Tiger Media.The presentation was made by Director of Schools Mark Willoughby and Roy Nelson Pugh of Liberty State Bank, which sponsored the banquet.Emmons received a bell-shaped award and a check for $150 from Liberty State Bank. Five DeKalb County teachers were chosen by their peers as Teacher of the Year candidates.Also considered for the award and honored at the banquet were Bethany Rigsby, a third-grade teacher at Northside Elementary; Jane Watson, a fifth-grade teacher at DeKalb West; Karen Pelham, an eighth-grade teacher at DeKalb Middle; and Beth Cantrell, a kindergarten teacher at Smithville Elementary.Supervisor of Instruction for Pre-K through sixth grade Michelle Burklow explained how the Teacher of the Year selection process works.“Every year DeKalb County participates in the Tennessee Teacher of the Year program,” Burkelow told the assembly, “Each school picks a Teacher of the Year from their school. That teacher is sent to the county level and we also participate in the regional by picking a teacher in Pre-K through fourth grade, a teacher in the fifth through eighth grade, and a ninth through 12th grade teacher.“This year we sent nominations over and we also sent the names of all five teachers of the year where a committee made up of several supervisors from the Upper Cumberland scored our county applicants based on the Rubric scoring guide,” Burklow continued.