April-May 2026

Written by Mary Ellen Flannery, NEA Today senior writer and editor. This story originally appeared in NEA Today on Jan. 25, 2026.This version edited by Heaven Keane. View the original article here. The sun is setting and the temperature is dropping to -22 when Minneapolis-area teachers Naomi Stenson and Lorna Plana lift the hatch on…

The 2026 Teacher of the Year nomination process, which began in November, continues to move forward as the candidate field narrows to 30 candidates. Once nominations closed in the fall, nominees were invited to submit a portfolio. An independent selection panel of 22 community leaders then reviewed the portfolios and selected the semifinalists. This year, 128 candidates submitted portfolios.

Throughout the winter, educators across Minnesota have felt the impact of Operation Metro Surge as the Department of Homeland Security sent upwards of 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents to Minnesota, allegedly to detain individuals who were in the country illegally and had committed dangerous crimes. However, ICE and CPB agents targeted a much wider demographic, detaining natural-born citizens, immigrants in good legal standing, and constitutional legal observers alike. Because the Trump administration rolled back the longstanding “sensitive locations” policy in 2025, these agents were able to target schools, hospitals, churches, daycare centers and more.