KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers portions of Johnson County, including Overland Park, Shawnee and Mission. If you have a story idea to share, send Alyssa an email to alyssa.jackson@kshb.com.
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Students in the Blue Valley Unified School District will return from summer vacation on Tuesday.
Before the first day of school, educators across the district had their own celebration.
The Rally in the Valley is a pep rally for staff and a yearly tradition in the Blue Valley School District.
"A lot of high school teachers don't like the rah-rah stuff, but I do," said Katie Pearson, an educator of eighteen years. "That's really my jam."
Two different sessions were held in the Blue Valley Southwest High School gymnasium for 3,300 staff members.
If they weren't already fired up, Friday's rally made sure they have plenty of energy for the first day.
"Teachers came back on Wednesday and that was our day to welcome them back," said Phoebe Lewis, principal at Pleasant Ridge Middle School. "Dr. Merrigan, the superintendent, set the whole stage for the entire district until we welcome these babies back. We’re ready."
Before becoming a teacher and baseball coach at Blue Valley West, Alex Lahasky began as a kindergarten student in the district.
"When I came back to work, it was like every time I was down an old hallway, I'd catch a memory," he said.
The rally set the tone for educators and now many of them are ready to set the tone in their classrooms.
"At the beginning of the year, I would tell kids we’re going to read, write and think everyday," Pearson said. "Read, write and think everyday and I hope I can be their person. I wanna be that person they can come and see for whatever they might need."
A focus on retention
Thousands of staff filled the high school's gymnasium, but some teachers acknowledged a national shortage of educators.
According to the Department of Education, from February to May 2020, communities lost 730,000 local public education jobs due to the pandemic. That includes teachers, specialized instructional support personnel and other critical staff.
The Department of Education includes Kansas in a recovery effort to get education staffing back to pre-pandemic levels.
While their data shows progress, public education employment in the state is down 2.8% when compared with employment numbers before the pandemic.
Lewis said at Pleasant Ridge Middle School they were able to retain nearly 100% of their staff for the upcoming year because they are intentional about keeping them.
"As you know, there’s a teacher shortage right now and we have prided ourselves that one of our goals from Dr. Merrigan, our superintendent, is to retain teachers" Lewis said. "How we do that is we make sure we let them know we are here for them, we are supporting them, we help them through the times that are difficult, but also the times we need to celebrate them."
The Department of Education has called on state and local leaders to eliminate educator shortages in a number of ways, including increases in compensation.
The Blue Valley School Board will decide on Monday whether to approve a 7.4% increase to their salary schedule for the upcoming school year.
According to Superintendent Tonya Merrigan, that would make them the highest-paying district in Johnson County.
"Teachers have options," Lahasky said. "That means districts need to compete, not only with other districts, but also the private sector. Anything districts can do to make teachers feel valued and appreciated is worthwhile."