Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ annual Recognition Celebration of its employees ended up making history on Thursday — as the district named the first ever two-time winner of Teacher of the Year. Jessie Grinnell, an English Language Arts teacher at C & L McDougle Middle School, earned the honor for the 2024-25 school year out of CHCCS’ 19 school-specific teachers of the year. Grinnell was previously celebrated as the district’s Teacher of the Year in 2016-17 while teaching at Culbreth Middle School, and she has now taught for 13 years. “My mission here,” Grinnell said to the crowd after winning the award, “is to tell teachers that sometimes it gets really hard and sometimes you get down. But if you stop, and you take a breath, and you start saying yes to the things that bring you joy, and reaching out to the people who love you…you can make it far for yourself, and for your students, and for your school and families and everyone who loves you.” Beyond her Teacher of the Year title...