Orange County Public Schools

The OCPS Stellar Awards recognize outstanding staff who exemplify the standards we strive for in supporting all of our students.
This annual event honors Orange County Public School’s stellar educators and school & district support personnel.

There are 5 Stellar Awards categories which include:

1. District Administrator of the Year
2.  Principal of the Year
3. Assistant Principal of the Year
4. Support Person of the Year
5. Teacher of the Year

District Administrator of the Year: Nominated by Division Cabinet Members. District Administrator of the Year honorees are full-time, non-classified, non-instructional employees.
There are no more than ten (10) Stellar Division honorees.

1.Div. of Learning includes:
     o ESE
    o CTE
    o School Choice
    o STO
    o Cadres
    o Chief Schools Office

2. Academic Office
3. Chief of Staff Office (Human Resources)
4. Strategy & Research
5. Fiscal Services
6. ITS
7. Communications
8. Operations
9. General Counsel/Audit/Executive Services
10. Facilities

This is a division award presented by a member of the superintendent’s cabinet.
This is the only award presented by OCPS that is not recognized by the Florida Department of Education.

Principal of the Year: Nominated by Principal Leaders. Each candidate is required to have served his/her current school for the entire school year for which they are being nominated.

Assistant Principal of the Year: Nominated by Principal Leaders. The candidate must have not less than 2 (two) years of experience as an assistant principal at a public school. Each candidate is required to have served his/her current school not less than 1 (one) year preceding the filing of the application.
Support Person of the Year: Nominated by Administrators/Principals. All non-certified, non-instructional educational support personnel who serve at the school or district level including such as teacher aides, library aides, bookkeepers, secretaries and clerks, bus drivers, food service staff, custodians, building maintenance workers, warehouse workers, mechanics, nurses, and office managers.

Teacher of the Year: Nominated by Administrators/Principals. Full-time district educators including classroom teachers in traditional schools Pre-K through 12, guidance counselors, media specialists, speech/language pathologists, special area teachers (e.g., exceptional student education, world languages, music), other professional educators performing instructional support services with students (e.g., school psychologists, school social workers and instructional coaches), adult education teachers, postsecondary vocational/technical education teachers

A nominee is an employee who is eligible to become an honoree.
The honoree is the employee who will receive the award.

POY, APOY, SPOY and TOY nominees must complete an application packet. Packets become available when nomination open.

Chiefs, or a senior member of each OCPS division, will submit written nomination for each District Administrator nominee.

In most cases, the Call for Nominees will commence with the start of the school year but timing is subject to change.

Finalists strongly embody the OCPS values of:

• Collaboration
• Equity
• Inclusion
• Innovation
• Integrity
• Respect

A category finalist is chosen from the full list of honorees after a careful review of each honoree application.

To be considered a finalist, the application would have received a high score by the judging committee and the honoree will have a clean personnel record. All honorees are screened by OCPS Professional Standards.

District Administrator winners are decided by a vote by cabinet.

Winners for all other categories are determined by:

Review of Finalist’s application and other relevant documents or resources.

In-person Interview

Stellar Awards are held annually in mid to late January or early February depending on venue availability.

Honorees and one guest and honoree’s immediate supervisor are invited to the live event for POY, APOY, SPOY and TOY.

For District Administrators – since this is Division Award and not a department award, immediate supervisors do not receive complementary tickets. The division chief will present the award to their honoree

Every honoree will receive a complimentary ticket for themselves and one (1) guest.
An honoree’s administrator/principal will receive one (1) complimentary ticket.
Typically, a school will receive 5 complimentary tickets but may receive, 6, 7 or 9 depending on if there is an Assistant Principal honoree (7) or a Principal honoree (6) or both (9).

OCPS senior leadership including members of cabinet and school board, event sponsors/partners, others who have significantly contributed to the planning of or the success of the event and distinguished members of the greater OCPS community may also receive a complimentary ticket.

A limited number of tickets are available for purchase by OCPS employees.
Please note that tickets sell out quickly.

Tickets for the event are not available for purchase on-site. Ticket sales close 14 days prior to the event date.
Each guest must be registered for the event and have been issued a ticket.

Minors may attend the event with an adult who has a ticket.
If the child requires a seat at the table, a full priced ticket must be purchase.
If the child will sit on an adult’s lap, and does not require a meal, a ticket does not need to be purchased. A child’s meal may be purchased for a reduced price. Email [email protected] for assistance.