DANVILLE, Va. – A man who started his teaching career in the Danville Public School system has been named the 2021 Virginia Teacher of the Year. Anthony Swann, a fifth grade teacher at Rocky Mount Elementary School in Franklin County, received the state’s highest educational award during a virtual ceremony Thursday night.

Swann started teaching in 2007 at Schoolfield Elementary in Danville. From 2013-2015, he taught at Stoney Creek Elementary in Caswell, North Carolina. Swann returned to Virginia in 2015, teaching at GLH Johnson Elementary in Danville for two years before assuming his current job Rocky Mount Elementary in 2017.

Swann mentors students through a program he started there in 2019 called “Guys with Ties.” Boys “dress to impress” twice a month and participate in lessons where they learn the importance of integrity, honesty and respect.

Swann was one of seven Virginia teachers in the running for the award and will serve as the state’s representative for the National Teacher of the Year. That award will be presented during a ceremony at the White House in the spring.