Mrs. Edington is an absolute gem for our community. She goes far above and beyond with her students and is simply an amazing music teacher and person in general. Both of my kids had her all three years at DVMS and she taught them extremely well, one with no music background, who continued on in high school wind ensemble and ended up playing briefly with the Cal Berkeley Wind Ensemble. I cannot say enough positive things about Chavonta. I congratulate her and think she is the best teacher my kids have had in all their K-12 years. Her enthusiasm for music is contagious and her handling of what I conclude is a challenging population of middle schoolers, who can be easily distracted and unmotivated, is impressive, to say the least. She keeps them focused and interested, showing her how much they respect her, which is not an easy task! She deserves more than being a county finalist and I do hope she wins County Teacher of the Year (and not just for the county)! Her yearly very loud applause at the annual Area Band Festival is a testament that I am certainly not the only parent who feels this way! I remember one of my children leaving the middle school Disneyland recording studio trip, walking down Disney’s Main Street to the exit and saying,”Can you imagine all of this without music?” This was impactful and a result of Mrs. Edington’s hard work. All the best to her winning Teacher of the Year for our county. I haven’t come across another teacher with her skill set and passion and commitment towards teaching at SRVUSD!