Oak Harbor High School teacher Darren McCoy is one step closer to the Grammy Awards.

The choir director is one of 25 music teachers nationwide being considered for the Music Educator Award, awarded at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony during Grammy Week.

After learning he’d made it so far, McCoy said, “I was flattered and grateful.”

His students had a more visceral response.

“Wild and crazy applause,” he said. “They didn’t really say anything. They are excited and immediately wanted to know if there are going to be any cameras coming in here.”

If he wins, he would also get to attend the Grammy Awards and receive a $10,000 check as well as a matching amount for Oak Harbor High School.

More than 4,500 nominations were submitted from all over the country. The Music Educator Award was established to recognize teachers who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in schools.

The judges are searching for a teacher who inspires students and uses innovative teaching techniques.

McCoy has earned a reputation as a charismatic, hard-working teacher. He sings and is an accomplished pianist and composer.

Some of his accomplishments include getting more boys involved in choir and improving music education district wide. He helped bring a part-time accompanist to both middle schools and the high schools and applied for a grant that gave all the district’s music teachers access to notation software and workshops on how to use it.

He and his students serve the community, for instance, singing for service organizations.

McCoy is the kind of teacher who develops strong relationships with his students, and he has that teacher magic that can get students to do even the most challenging tasks, said principal Dwight Lundstrom. And McCoy works hard.

“Honestly, his car is here almost as much as mine,” he said. “There aren’t many people who can out-leg him in terms of time on the job.”

It’s perhaps surprising, said the principal, that a small town like Oak Harbor can boast a nationally recognized program.

“I know at the high school we’re super proud of him, and I hope our community is super proud of having this program here,” he said.

McCoy said he couldn’t do what he does with the support of the community, particularly the Soroptimists, Rotary, An-o-Chords Men’s Chorus, and the Oak Harbor Education Foundation.

He’ll find out if he makes the top 10 sometime in December.