MassCUE is proud to celebrate Samantha Toomey as our Featured Educator for February 2026!

This Featured Educator post was written by Heather Hannon, ELA teacher at the Carroll School and member of the MassCUE Communications Committee.

Samantha Toomey has dedicated more than 30 years to Sutton Public Schools, serving students and staff in a variety of roles across both elementary and middle levels. For the past eight years, she has been the district’s K–5 instructional technology teacher, working with more than 500 students each week and serving as a key support for both classroom learning and technology troubleshooting.

“I have the privilege of working with students from the time they are five years old until they are about eleven or twelve,” Samantha shares. “It’s incredibly meaningful to watch them grow over the years, not just academically, but in confidence and perseverance.”

In her technology classroom, students learn far more than how to use devices. Lessons focus on digital citizenship, creative applications like Google Slides, typing skills, coding, and game design. Just as important, students practice collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and perseverance—skills Samantha believes are essential for success in and beyond school.

Samantha’s commitment to education is deeply rooted in her connection to the Sutton community. Over the course of her career, she has taught multiple generations of local families, creating lasting relationships that extend well beyond the classroom.

“I’ve had the joy of teaching several generations of Sutton students,” she reflects. “It’s important to me that the high quality of education in our district continues for the next generation of learners—and even my ‘grand-students.’”

One initiative Samantha is especially proud of is her work with Make Wonder’s Dash robots. Students in grades four and five are encouraged to borrow robots to use at home, extending creative coding beyond the classroom. These projects have strengthened connections among students, families, teachers, and administrators, and have been supported through grants from Sutton’s highly engaged PTO.

Despite the challenge of limited funding for new technology, Samantha has found success through collaboration and community support. Her advice to educators interested in trying new instructional strategies is simple and encouraging: jump in, experiment, and lean on the expertise of colleagues and families.

Professional learning continues to play a vital role in Samantha’s work. She actively seeks out workshops, online tutorials, and conferences to stay current and inspired.

“I love MassCUE, especially the fall conference,” she says. “Seeing how other districts use technology always gives me fresh ideas and strategies I can bring back to my students.”

Being recognized as a MassCUE Featured Educator is a meaningful milestone for Samantha, particularly after transitioning into a technology specialist role later in her career. The recognition affirms her belief that thoughtful, student-centered technology instruction can have a lasting impact—and that the small, joyful moments of learning are what matter most.

Samantha Toomey’s Bio:

Samantha Toomey is currently serving as an Educational Technology Specialist Teacher for Grades K-5 in the Simonian Early Learning Center and the Sutton Elementary School of the Sutton Public Schools. She has been teaching in Sutton since 1993, in a variety of upper elementary and middle school grades as a classroom teacher, before jumping into Instructional Technology.

She is a proud graduate of the Lowell Public Schools and holds both a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Though she enjoys learning about new technologies, she loves to spend unplugged time outdoors with her family and rambunctious Shih Tzus, Finn and Kirby. She and her husband, Dan, are the proud parents of three incredible adult children.

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