A Great Neck South High School teacher and a native of Great Neck on Tuesday was named as a top five finalist on morning show “Live with Kelly and Michael’s Top Teacher Search” contest.
John Motchkavitz, the school’s Business Technology Department head, said he was watching the show Tuesday morning when hosts Michael Strahan and Kelly Ripa named him and four other teachers from across the United States.
“It was pretty amazing,” Motchkavitz said. “The whole class just started going crazy. People were running around all over the place.”
Motchkavitz, known as “Motch” by students and faculty of the school, will appear on the show on the week of May 12, according to the contest’s website.
“It should be interesting and it should be a lot of fun,” Motchkavitz said.
Motchkavitz said he received a call from a former student’s parent on Friday, when Ripa and Strahan announced that Motchkavitz was a semifinalist, along with 11 other teachers.
Motchkavitz said that was the first he had heard about being nominated.
“I had no idea they nominated me,” he said. “Just being nominated was a beautiful thing.”
Motchkavitz was nominated by Great Neck South High School teacher Sheryl Burger, a member of the school’s business technology department.
“When we think of a person that makes a difference both in the classroom, around school and in his community, Motch is that guy,” Burger said in her nomination letter. “He really is the backbone of Great Neck South High School.”
Motchkavitz was named as a top five finalist after three days of online voting.
“I give a lot of credit to the community for rallying behind me and voting for me,” he said.
Motchkavitz said he teaches “technology classes” that are offered to students as electives. Those classes include robotics and set design.
Motchkavitz said he also volunteers as a firefighter in the Great Neck Alert Fire Company. His company was one of the first to respond to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“He spent days in the rubble, down in Ground Zero, searching for survivors, loved ones and helping with the efforts,” Burger said.
Motchkavitz said he uses his experience as a firefighter and 9/11 responder to educate schoolchildren about the attacks.
“I think it’s important that the kids learn about that,” he said.
He is also the leader of the school’s robotics team.
“He helped lead that group to the national competition,” Burger said.
Motchkavitz said he’s worked in the Great Neck school district for 12 years. He said he previously worked in the Malverne School District, where he won the teacher of the year award.
Working in the Great Neck School District, Motchkavitz said, was never something he considered doing.
“I wasn’t sure about working where I lived,” he said.
But after deciding to say yes, he said he’s never been happier.
“It was the best move that I ever did,” he said.
Burger said in her nomination letter that Motchkavitz “is known as the ‘unofficial mayor’ of Great Neck.”
“Everyone in our school and town knows Motch,” she said.
Motchkavitz said he hopes viewers of the show will be able to see a different side of educators than what is presented in the media.
“In today’s day and age when people knock teachers because of things like testing,” he said. “I think it’s good that they acknowledge something good like this.”
