Missouri Teacher Of The Year Has Suggestions For Commission

A statewide teacher recruitment and retention commission gets down to business this week as Missouri’s public schools work to fill nearly 12-hundred total K-12 teacher vacancies. Melissa Grandel, a teacher at the Fordland School District in southwest Missouri, says respect for teachers and administrators would go a long way.

Grandel, the 2020 Missouri Teacher of the Year, says after a couple of years in a rural district, teachers often leave for a suburban district – resulting in students not having consistency. She says better pay, along with financial aid and student loan forgiveness for teachers, would help to attract more teachers, and Grandel has some other ideas as well.

Grandel, the 2020 Missouri Teacher of the Year, says after a couple of years in a rural district, teachers often leave for a suburban district – resulting in students not having consistency.