Academy director to retire from JCPS

After 40 years in public education and seven years serving the Jefferson City Public Schools, Director of Academies Myron Graber announced his impending retirement, effective June 30.

Graber came to Jefferson City in 2008 to work as principal at Jefferson City High School. After a year in that position, he was promoted to assistant superintendent for secondary education where he served for a few years until he was appointed as director of academies.

Graber, in his early 60s, said he and his wife are thinking about returning to Kansas, or possibly Oklahoma, to be closer to family.

"We'd like to be closer to our three grandchildren," Graber said, noting the children are ages 3, 6 and 8, and are starting to be active in youth sports.

For the first 11 years of his career, Graber was a teacher - and a busy one.

"I had dual certification and I taught science, social studies and physical education in middle school. I had seven different classes and coached three sports, one each season," he reminisced.

Graber served 22 years as principal at four different Kansas high schools before he was recruited to Jefferson City, with the assistance of the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce.

Superintendent Brian Mitchell said, after working with Graber for six years, he has "an enormous amount of respect and admiration" for him and has enjoyed working with him.

"He has a tremendous passion for this profession and more importantly, a passion to help provide every student the very best opportunity for a successful future," Mitchell said. "Every leadership position has its challenges and critics and I have always found Mr. Graber unwavering to his principles of keeping decisions centered on students first. I appreciate the service he has provided our students, staff and community ... I most certainly wish him the best as he transitions to another chapter of his life."

During his time in Jefferson City, Graber has helped lead the movement to create the seven career-oriented academies, which are designed to acquaint secondary-level students with opportunities in the workforce. Proponents of the academies also say the system makes classroom learning more relevant to the real world.

The academies were launched for the first time this school year at Simonsen 9th Grade Center, and have been, by and large, well-received by students.

Graber said, over the last several decades, the American education system had separated "hands from minds, and work from school."

"The theory behind academies is to bring those back together, so kids have authentic learning experiences that sometimes we missed along the way," he said.

Speaking about the launch, Graber said it's been "amazing to see it play out."

"And it's been amazing to see some of the curriculum-and-instruction pieces fall into place," he said.

One of those pieces is Project Lead the Way, a national non-profit initiative that provides science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) lessons for students and professional development for teachers.

Other aspects of the academies Graber has helped coordinate the organization of include:

• Introductory classes designed to help students identify their interests, learning styles and strengths.

• And interdisciplinary classes where two subjects - biology and literature, for example - are taught together.

"You throw in the tech component - students at Simonsen now have their own iPad - and you can see a lot of good work happening," Graber said. "It is perfect? No. But it's pretty amazing to see the engagement levels and how staff and students are interacting."

Graber said he's going to miss the Jefferson City community, in particular some of the "incredible staff members" he has met here.

"They are among the best I've every worked with. And Jefferson City has some incredibly (good) students, too," he said.