Andrea Murray, an eighth grade English teacher at the Pocahontas Junior High School, and Bethany Brantley, a gifted and talented teacher at the Cossatot River School District, were recently named the2024 Arkansas Rural Education Association’s Teachers of the Year. The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas have sponsored the Rural Teachers of the Year Award since 2004.
Murray and Brantley were presented with a crystal apple gift and a check for $1,000 from the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.
Teacher-of-the-year nominations are vetted by the state’s 15 educational cooperatives, which then submit a finalist for each educational cooperative district to the Arkansas Rural Education Association for consideration.
The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas comprise 17 electric distribution cooperatives; Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc.(AECI), a Little Rock-based cooperative that provides services to the distribution cooperatives; and Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. (AECC), a generation and transmission cooperative. The distribution cooperatives provide electricity to approximately 600,000 homes, farms and businesses in Arkansas and surrounding states.
