By Wil Davis
Citizen Reporter

Tammy Lackey, a North Garner Middle School teacher, is one of 20 full-time Wake County Public School teachers who are semi-finalists for the Wake County Teacher of the Year Award. Wake County Public School Administrators will choose the winner from 9,701 full-time teachers. Wake County will name the Teacher of the Year on May 15, at Embassy Suites in Cary at 6 p.m.

Lackey is a Red Springs, N.C. native. She taught at Cumberland County’s South View Middle School for one year before spending the last four years at North Garner Middle.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University. In school, she worked for IBM and later spent six years working for Black and Decker.

She has four daughters, which is a part of the reason she transitioned from engineering to education, she said.

“I came home with my babies for about five or six years,” Lackey explained.

The teaching schedule was a better fit for her family.
“That was the initial reason,” Lackey continued. “Then it became the best fit for me.”

She began to enjoy working with students. She found that she had a talent for inspiring young people. During school hours, she shares what she knows in the classroom. After school, she shares what she knows on the diamond and the hardwood. She coaches softball and girls basketball. Lackey, who played shortstop all four years in high school, led her softball team to victory in this season’s first three games. This year’s girls basketball team won the conference title with a 13-1 record. Her softball team also earned last year’s conference title. >>more