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Lafayette Parish School System Announces Teacher of the Year with Surprise Visit to Schools

2022-2023 Teachers of the Year

Left to Right: Heather Gregory, 7th grade ELA at Broussard Middle School; Nicholas Richert, 11th & 12th grade Physics and Chemistry teacher at Lafayette High School; Stacy Stutes, 4th grade ELA at Woodvale Elementary School

Lafayette Parish School System’s Superintendent Irma Trosclair and district administrators visited district schools yesterday to formally announce the 2022-2023 Teacher of the Year honorees for elementary, middle, and high schools. Each teacher was surprised to learn that they were selected as the district’s Teacher of the Year for Lafayette Parish School System.

Recipients include:

  • Elementary School: Stacy Stutes, 4th grade ELA at Woodvale Elementary School
  • Middle School: Heather Gregory, 7th grade ELA at Broussard Middle School
  • High School: Nicholas Richert, 11th & 12th grade Physics and Chemistry teacher at Lafayette High School


This is a high honor for outstanding teachers who have been selected by their peers and evaluated by district administrators and community leaders. Every year, educators and administrators in each public school in Lafayette Parish vote to select a Teacher of the Year based on nominations. The winner of each school then is eligible to participate in the district competition.  

The district utilizes the comprehensive application provided by the Louisiana Department of Education that includes submitting a teaching video, a lesson plan which corresponds to the teaching video, student learning targets, and letters of recommendation in order to fully showcase the talents of each teacher. A rubric is utilized to score the applications and top contenders are interviewed by a committee of community leaders in order to select the district winner at each grade level. District winners compete in the state competition through the Louisiana Department of Education. Winners at the state level move on to the national competition.

The Lafayette Parish School System would like to thank each teacher who was nominated and submitted their comprehensive application to be considered for the district competition.


About LPSS Teacher of the Year Winners

Elementary School

Stacy Stutes has been teaching for 13 years and is a 4th grade ELA teacher. She graduated from USL and worked in radio and television news. She earned her teaching certificate at UL Lafayette and became a teacher to make a difference and positively impact the future. 

Middle School

Heather Gregory has been an educator for 20 years and teaches 7th grade ELA. She has devoted her career to helping children develop a love of reading and learning. Ms. Gregory graduated from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi in 2001 with a Bachelor’s Degree in elementary education and earned her Master’s Degree in educational leadership from LSU  Shreveport. She saw first-hand the disparities in students’ reading and language development caused by poverty. These experiences fueled a passion to create literacy-rich classroom environments designed to foster a love of life-long learning.  Her main focus has been ensuring that students of all academic achievement levels have access to quality reading and writing instruction. 

She is also instrumental in growing the Leader in Me program by serving as the action team leader for school climate and culture, Lighthouse co-facilitator, and Student Lighthouse Facilitator. Partnering with United Way of Acadiana and Franklin Covey, she is currently serving as a Leader in Me district coach for LPSS.

High School

Nicholas Richert is an 11th & 12th grade Physics and Chemistry teacher and has been teaching for 19 years. Originally from Jennings, LA he attended UL Lafayette and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. He began his teaching career at Notre Dame High School in Crowley and while teaching there, he completed a joint certification and graduate degree program to earn a Master of Education degree with a focus on curriculum and instruction. He is currently in his 17th year of teaching at Lafayette High.

In that time he has contributed to the school community through the soccer and golf teams, as well as creating the campus-wide recycling program.

Mr. Richert said, “Contrary to popular belief, teachers are not superheroes. We’re just regular people who have a passion for helping young minds grow.” His philosophy is to help who you can, when you can, however you can.

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