By 1808Delaware
A Delaware County educator with nearly three decades in the classroom has earned a place among Ohio’s top regional teaching honorees. Tom Hering, a high school English teacher at Rutherford B. Hayes High School, has been named the 2027 State Board of Education District 7 Teacher of the Year. He is one of 11 educators selected across Ohio for the new statewide cohort.
The regional honorees will serve as ambassadors for teaching and public education during the 2026-2027 school year. Later this month, four members of the group will be selected as finalists for the 2027 Ohio Teacher of the Year honor.
For Hering, the recognition follows 27 years of teaching, including the past 18 at Hayes in Delaware.
Twenty-Seven Years And A Wide-Ranging Classroom
Hering began his career at his alma mater, River Valley in the Marion and Caledonia area, where he taught for nine years before coming to Delaware. He currently teaches English 10, honors English 10, and Hayes Cinematics video production. Over the years, his course list has also included Advanced Placement Literature, AP Language, English 9 and 12, speech and debate, and media studies.
In 2005, he earned National Board Certification, one of the profession’s most significant voluntary credentials.
His own education crosses several fields and institutions. Hering earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics Management with a focus on Russian Area Studies from Ohio Wesleyan University. He later completed a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Education in English Education at The Ohio State University.
A Teacher Deeply Connected To Delaware
Hering’s work extends well beyond the classroom, as he serves on the boards of directors for the Strand Theatre and Delaware Housing Corporation and is a member of the Delaware Shakespeare Club. In 2025, he was named Delaware Rotary Teacher of the Year.
Within school life, his roles over the years have included department chair, marching band assistant director, wrestling assistant coach, National Honor Society advisor, student council advisor, chess and games club advisor, and Hayes Film Club advisor.
Then there is perhaps one of the more unusual lines on any educator’s résumé: advisor and coach of the Hayes Harry Potter Club and Quidditch Team of 2011. That range reflects a career built not simply around English instruction, but around participation in the larger life of a school and community.
Running, Baking, Movies And A Chicken
Away from school, Hering’s interests are equally varied. He enjoys running, baking, announcing at track meets, playing Dungeons and Dragons, caring for his cat and chicken, and watching movies and traveling with his wife, Cara, and their adult children, Rowan and Simon.
Yet his explanation for remaining at Hayes is considerably simpler. He teaches there because, as his State Board profile notes, he loves being part of a community where people care about each other and give their best. That commitment has now placed a Delaware educator in statewide company, with the possibility of an even larger honor still ahead.
