A preschool teacher in Manchester has been named the 2016 New Hampshire Teacher of the Year.
Ashley Preston, who teaches at Parker Varney Elementary School, becomes the state's candidate for National Teacher of the Year.
Preston has been teaching for nine years, all of them in the Manchester School District. The Department of Education says the selection committee recognized her ability to help her students be curious, critical thinkers and problem solvers.
Finalists are Laura LaVallee an English teacher at Portsmouth High School; Elizabeth Lounder, an English teacher at Winchester School; Christopher Schoff, a mathematics teacher at Portsmouth High School; and Jennifer Thompson, a language Arts and social studies teacher at Unity Elementary School.
