Ten finalists have been named to be the 2020 Minnesota Teacher of the Year.
But the annual banquet announcing this year's honoree — initially scheduled for May 3 — has been postponed until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interviews with finalists have been tentatively set for June 13, according to a news release Tuesday from Education Minnesota, the state's teachers' union.
This year's field included 135 candidates.
The finalists are: DeWayne Combs, a physical education teacher at Murray Middle School in St. Paul; Katie Coulson, a fourth-grade teacher at Thomas Lake Elementary in Eagan; Shannon Finnegan, a social studies teacher in a Hopkins High School alternative program; Qorsho Hassan, a fifth-grade teacher at Gideon Pond Elementary in Burnsville; and Maya Kruger, a sixth-grade language arts teacher at St. Anthony Middle School.
Also, Ryan Larson, an eighth- and ninth-grade English teacher at Pine City Junior/Senior High; Omar McMillan, a fourth-grade teacher at Richfield STEM School; Rachel Steil, a grades 10 to 12 English and journalism teacher at Stillwater Area High School; Maria Villavicencio, a first-grade teacher at Eden Lake Elementary in Eden Prairie; and Katie Watland, a seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher at Lake Park Audubon Secondary School in Lake Park.
Finalists were determined by a 24-member selection panel that includes representatives from the education, business, government and nonprofit communities.
Candidates eligible to become Teacher of the Year include prekindergarten through 12th-grade teachers, as well as early childhood and adult basic education teachers, who work in public or private schools.
