HOPE – A teacher at Hope Academy of Public Service has been voted Best Teacher in Hempstead County in a local news site’s annual survey.

Hope Public Schools educator Mandy Townsend was the top vote recipient in the annual SWARK.today website reader survey, according to SWARK.today, Manager Bren Yocom.

Townsend is a graduate of Hope High School and an alumnus of Texas A&M University-Texarkana, who has taught grades 1-8 in the Texarkana, and Hope schools.

She is currently working toward receipt of National Board certification and specific certification in Dyslexia education services.

The daughter of HPS educator and Clinton Primary School Assistant Principal Robin Townsend, Mandy is the mother of two children, Mackenzie, an HHS graduate and senior at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, and Ella, a sixth-grade student at HAPS. The award was announced July 31