BISMARCK, N.D., July 11, 2025 – North Dakota State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler on Friday celebrated four North Dakota educators who are finalists for North Dakota’s 2026 Teacher of the Year award.
They are:
- Emily Dawes, a first-grade teacher at J. Nelson Kelly Elementary School in Grand Forks;
- Hannah Sagvold, a business education teacher at Lisbon Public School;
- Frannie Tunseth, who teaches grades 4-8 at Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg Public School in Mayville;
Leah Wheeling, a sixth-grade teacher of physical education and digital literacy at Simle Middle School in Bismarck.
In April, Baesler honored 48 North Dakota educators who were named County Teachers of the Year from their respective counties. Dawes (Grand Forks County), Sagvold (Ransom County), Tunseth (Traill County), and Wheeling (Burleigh County) were picked as finalists from that group of 48 teachers. Once the 2025-26 school year begins, Baesler plans to travel to the finalists’ schools for events to honor their achievements.
“These finalists represent the skilled, compassionate educators that we blessed to have in our North Dakota schools,” Baesler said. “Our Teacher of the Year program is intended to lift up the teaching profession and show the respect, appreciation, and admiration we have for our teachers, and celebrate the work they do to educate the young people who represent our future.”
The Teacher of the Year selection process is spelled out in state law (NDCC 15.1-02-21). Dawes, Sagvold, Tunseth, and Wheeling will be interviewed by an eight-member screening committee, which will choose the 2026 Teacher of the Year.
Baesler and Gov. Kelly Armstrong are tentatively scheduled to announce the winner at 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, in the state Capitol’s Memorial Hall. State law requires that the winner be announced before Sept. 30 each year.
North Dakota’s Teacher of the Year will become a candidate for the national Teacher of the Year award, which is selected by the Council of Chief State School Officers, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that represents state education interests. Baesler is a former president of the CCSSO’s board of directors.
North Dakota’s current Teacher of the Year is Kendall Bergrud, a mathematics teacher at Bismarck’s Wachter Middle School. His successor will begin serving as North Dakota’s Teacher of the Year on Jan. 1, 2026.