RPS Teacher of the Year helped raise Fairfield Court's reading scores by 20 points
Tiffany Sneed’s mother had a simple request for her.
“Tiffany, when you get to Fairfield, teach them how to read,” she recalled her mother saying.
And Sneed did just that, becoming a literacy coach at Fairfield Court Elementary School – the same school her mother went to decades before her – and is credited with helping raise the school’s reading scores by 20 points.
Those efforts were recognized and celebrated when she was surprised with the Richmond Public Schools’ 2026 Teacher of the Year award on Wednesday in the school’s cafeteria.
“Go Ms. Sneed! Go Ms. Sneed!” chanted a crowd of hundreds of giddy students, waving green and yellow pom-poms – the school’s colors – as she walked into the fully packed cafeteria.
Sneed – a 15-year educator holding master’s degrees in reading and in curriculum and instruction, and a bachelor’s in elementary education – credited her award to her mother, husband, family, sorority sisters, Fairfield Court staff, and her own first grade teacher who taught her how to read, all of whom were in attendance.
“As I look around the room, I see so many people that have poured into me, and I can't say thank you enough,” she said, tearfully.
When interviewing for her position with Principal Angela Wright four years ago, Sneed sufficiently answered Wright’s question that asked about the five components of reading – phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
“And she could speak to each piece, and how she could help Fairfield move to the next level,” Wright said. “So her work began, and her vision began then.”
That vision and her accomplishments make her “a great example of what it means to teach with love,” Superintendent Jason Kamras told students, shortly before asking them if they feel that love. The students did.
School Board member Cheryl Burke (7th District), who presented the award to Sneed alongside Vice Chair Matthew Percival (1st District), gave heed to family and friends, asking them to “take care of this rare jewel,” especially in a school division with the third-highest teacher vacancy rate in the Central Virginia region for this school year – 5.4% as of November 2025.
“To be transparent, in this society, in this city, in this state … to have teachers where we have a shortage, we have one who comes in every day,” she said.
Burke, alongside Vice Chair Matthew Percival (1st District), presented her with the award: “For all that you do, and then some, this one’s for you.”
“Mom, we made it,” Sneed later said.
The division also announced four other teachers who were finalists for the spot:
- Lucy Alfonso, Spanish teacher at Open High
- Andrea Bryant, science teacher at Lucille M. Brown Middle and Richmond Education Association president
- Maria Isabel Cardona, LIEP Lead Teacher at Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary (works with English language learners)
- LaTonya Oliver, fifth-grade English teacher at Southampton Elementary.
Sneed can now compete against Central Virginia jurisdictions like Chesterfield and Henrico counties for regional teacher of the year, before trying for the state and the national titles.
“I know that she is one of the very best teachers, not just in RPS, but in all of Virginia and in the entire country,” Kamras said.
Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org
