Newnan High’s Martin Named 2026 Coweta Teacher of the Year
From Special Reports
Newnan High School AP Physics teacher Mary Beth Martin was announced as Coweta’s 2026 Teacher of the Year Thursday night.
Martin – a 34-year educator who has taught physics at Newnan High since 2015 – was among 3 finalists and 33 Coweta educators recognized March 26 at the annual Teacher of the Year ceremony.
This year’s finalists also included Erin Gladden, who teaches REACH at Thomas Crossroads Elementary School, and Lindsay Dalton, a 6th-grade math teacher at Blake Bass Middle School.
The March 26 Teacher of the Year program – sponsored by the Coweta County Board of Education and the Pilot Club of Newnan – honored TOTYs in each of the Coweta County School System’s 33 schools. The TOTY’s Pilot Club reception and Board recognition were held in the Black Box Theatre at the Nixon Centre for Performing and Visual Arts.
Coweta’s teachers of the year are selected by their fellow certified teachers at each school in recognition of exemplary teaching and professional leadership, and serve as ambassadors of their profession. Teachers of the Year and finalists are chosen by their peers, and the county Teacher of the Year is chosen from among them by an independent panel of experienced Coweta educators
This year’s honorees represent teachers working in 1st through 12th grade, and a range of educational disciplines, including English/Language Arts, math, science, social sciences, special education, health and physical education, REACH, and middle school Connections.
Newnan High School AP Physics Teacher Mary Martin is applauded
by colleagues and Coweta Board of Education members at the 2026
Teacher of the Year ceremony, held March 26 at the Nixon Centre.
All of Coweta’s 33 TOTY honorees for 2026 include:
Angela Brodnax, REACH (Arbor Springs Elementary)
Chelsey Brightman, 4th Grade (Arnco-Sargent Elementary)
Channa Long, 1st Grade (Atkinson Elementary)
Elizabeth Terrell, REACH (Brooks Elementary)
Claire Eskew, 3rd Grade (Canongate Elementary)
Tiffany Bullington, Bridge (Eastside Elementary)
Gayelle Lahoud, 5th Grade (Elm Street Elementary)
Joshua Potts, Physical Education (Glanton Elementary)
Debbie Donaldson, 1st Grade (Jefferson Parkway Elementary)
Jordan Cheatwood, Special Education (Moreland Elementary)
Holly Miller 4th Grade (Newnan Crossing Elementary)
Heather Walls, 4th and 5th Grade Science (Northside Elementary)
Alkina Avery, 5th grade ELA/Social Studies (Poplar Road Elementary)
Nikita Thomas, 4th Grade (Ruth Hill Elementary)
Erin Gladden, REACH (Thomas Crossroads Elementary)
Ashley Mason, 4th Grade (Welch Elementary)
Kristal Blevins, 3rd Grade (Western Elementary)
Casey Hice, 2nd Grade (White Oak Elementary)
Katie McCurry, 4th Grade (Willis Road Elementary)
Courtney Agurs, 7th Grade Science (Arnall Middle)
Lindsay Dalton, 6th Grade Math (Blake Bass Middle)
Christine Ling, 6th- 8th Grade Math (East Coweta Middle)
LaWanda Watson, 8th Grade ELA (Evans Middle)
Anissa Long, 6th Grade Math (Lee Middle)
Tracey E. Pitts, Connections (Madras Middle)
Kisha Thompson, 6th Grade Science (Smokey Road Middle)
Angela Norred, Science (Maggie Brown Middle)
Mark Bowles, Special Education (East Coweta High)
Mary Beth Martin, Science (Newnan High)
Nakeshia Shelton, Special Education (Northgate High)
Lynette Hanus, 8th Grade Academy (The Central Educational Center)
Lalanya Patrick, History (Winston Dowdell Academy)
Jamie Stewart, 7th and 8th Grade Math (Empower Online)
Coweta County’s 2025 Teacher of the Year Ashley Linch, of Moreland Elementary School, told her fellow teachers that she wanted to be a teacher since 1st grade, when her teachers at Canongate Elementary School inspired her to think of who she could become. “You make a difference,” Linch reminded her colleagues. “To be named Teacher of the Year, that means that somewhere along the way you changed lives in a way that cannot be ignored.”
In addition to teaching Advanced Placement Physics at Newnan High, Martin is a STEM advisor and ambassador, a testing coordinator, a student support advisor and a Northrop Grumman “Scaling Up for STEM” Foundation Scholar. She holds a BS in Mathematical Physical Science from Eastern Kentucky University, and earned her Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction, from National-Louis University.
At the 2026 Teacher of the Year ceremony, Martin thanked her fellow NHS staff members and administrators, and her husband, for supporting her as a teacher, and constantly “filling her cup” with their “unfailing support and encouragement…. You’ve allowed me to show up every day and do the job that I love to do.”
“Tonight, standing here amongst such amazing colleagues, my cup isn’t full. It’s overflowing,” she said.
Martin will serve as Coweta’s nominee for Georgia Teacher of the Year.
