NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Department of Education honored the state’s most outstanding educators at the 19th annual Cecil J. Picard Educator Excellence Awards Gala on Saturday night.
The event was hosted at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans and featured the announcement of the 2026 Louisiana Teacher and Principal of the year, as well as the Early Childhood Teacher, Leader of the Year and New Teacher of the Year.
Regena Hartley Beard, a fifth-grade science and sixth-grade robotics teacher at Copper Mill Elementary in Zachary, was named Louisiana Teacher of the Year…