AUGUSTA – State education officials are seeking additional nominations for the 2009 Maine Teacher of the Year contest because they have not received many names, Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin said Wednesday.

The new deadline is Friday, Feb. 22.

The department is encouraging people to re-nominate teachers who were nominated in recent years. This is a change from past practices, when the department recommended that no more than one teacher be submitted from a small school unit within three years, and no more than one submitted from the same school within three years.

Any certified Maine teacher giving daily classroom instruction in a Maine approved public or private elementary or secondary school may be nominated. All nominees must have Maine certification and hold at least a four-year degree. More than 40 teachers, principals, superintendents, parents, students and business and community leaders select the teacher of the year. Anyone can nominate a teacher.

Regional finalists are announced in April. Site visits to the finalists’ schools are made in April and May and statewide finalists are chosen in July. The winner is announced in September.

The Teacher of the Year program does not attempt to single out any individual as the best teacher in Maine, but rather to honor one teacher who represents all the excellent teachers, according to a news release. The 2008 teacher of the year is Martin M. McKeon, a social studies teacher at Sanford High School.

For more online information about how to nominate a teacher, and the nomination form, go to http://www.maine.gov/education/toy/index.html. Or call 207-624-6700.