Will St. Louis County make it four in a row for producing Missouri’s teacher of the year?
The 17 semi-finalists for 2024 Missouri teacher of the year include David Choate, English teacher at Lafayette High School in the Rockwood School District; Janet Mees Reinert, library media specialist at Kirkwood High; and Melissa Leibbrandt, special education teacher in the Special School District of St. Louis County. Leibbrandt works at Claymont Elementary in the Parkway School District.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will announce the state’s teacher of the year later in the fall. The winner will go on to the national competition.
Kirkwood School District released a statement Friday that says Reinert “endeavors to make sure that every student at KHS is represented in our library. In the library she has created a welcoming space that is full of students every hour — and before/after school. She connects with teachers and supports their work across all content areas, making sure students can connect to resources in the library that extend their learning in the classroom.”
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English Language Arts teacher Christina Andrade Melly smiles after she is announced as the 2022 Missouri State Teacher of the Year at Ritenour High School on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. Melly was a student at Ritenour schools from kindergarten until she graduated in 2006. She returned to Ritenour as a part-time adult education teacher and substitute teacher after earning her degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has been teaching at Ritenour High School for the last 11 years. Photo by Jordan Opp, jopp@post-dispatch.com
The last three Missouri teachers of the year are English teacher Christina Andrade Melly, 2023, Ritenour School District; music teacher James Young, 2022, Ferguson-Florissant; and P.E. teacher Darrion Cockrell, 2021, Lindbergh. Shelly Parks won in 2019 from the Francis Howell School District in St. Charles County and Beth Davey won in 2018 from Ritenour.
James Young, a musical theater, vocal music, and guitar teacher at Johnson-Wabash Sixth Grade Center in the Ferguson-Florissant School District sits for a portrait in his classroom on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021. Young is the first teacher from the Ferguson-Florissant School District to be named Missouri’s teacher of the year. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
Local semi-finalists for 2024 teacher of the year also include Jeffrey Collier, who teaches band at Hardin Middle School in the St. Charles City School District; Kaylin Bade, agricultural sciences teacher in the Washington School District; and Olivia Howard, music teacher at Francis Howell Middle School.
The Missouri teacher of the year award launched in 1957 to honor the teaching profession. The winner serves as a spokesperson for the state’s 71,000 teachers and promotes the profession at various events, including the national ceremony held at the White House each year.
