K-M teacher in running for Minnesota Teacher of the Year

Sara Bailey, an elementary special education teacher in the Kasson-Mantorville School District, is in the running for the 2024 Minnesota Teacher of the Year.
Education Minnesota recently released its list of candidates for the 60th annual Teacher of the Year program. The list includes 159 teachers from public and private pre-K institutions, as well as early childhood education and adult basic education teachers.
Bailey has been teaching at Kasson-Mantorville Elementary School for four years. She was named the K-M Teacher of the Year in September 2023.
A Kasson native, she graduated from K-M High School in 2005. She received her undergraduate degree in 2009 from Winona State University and taught in Byron, Plainview, and in Wisconsin prior to returning to Kasson.
Bailey and her husband, Paul, live in Kasson with their three children, Kaden, 10, Tessa, 7, and Payton, 2.
In addition to teaching, she enjoys doing projects around their house, hanging out with her kids, and spending time outside.
She was chosen as K-M Teacher of the Year by her peers in the district.
Other teachers from the area named as candidates include:
Valerie Ashland, Kenyon-Wanamingo Schools
Tony Donkers, Kenyon-Wanamingo Schools
Tiffany Walerius, Owatonna Public Schools
Kim Hill, Rochester Public Schools
The list of candidates will be narrowed down in the next few weeks to a group of semifinalists and the finalists will be announced in March. The 2024 Teacher of the Year will be announced at the Minnesota Teacher of the Year banquet on May 5.