Rodgers: Teacher morale important for children's education

Melissa Rodgers, one of four candidates for two three-year positions on the Joplin R-8 Board of Education, told KZRG today that improving teacher morale is a priority and a vital way to improve education for district children.

"Teacher morale is huge," Rodgers said. "You have to have good morale to keep teachers." That has been a problem for the district over the past several years of the C. J. Huff era as half of the district's teachers have departed, with many of them now holding faculty positions in area schools.

One way to improve the morale, Rodgers said, is by increasing teacher salaries. "We have to find money in the budget to raise salaries.:

Rodgers told interviewers Chad Elliot and Sarah Novotny that she is "passionate about education," and she likes the direction in which the board has been headed in recent months. "The school board is going forward. It's becoming a well-oiled machine."

You can find the complete interview at this link.