The Ray-Pec School Board on May 23 recognized Monica Crabtree, 2024 Teacher of the Year. Crabtree, holding baby Oliver, is pictured with Board Member Patty Phillips.
Crabtree teaches 5th grade science and social studies at Peculiar Elementary. She has been in this position for seven years, and has worked in the district for nine years. Before teaching 5th grade, she taught 2nd grade for two years.
She graduated from Belton High School in 2010 and attended college at Missouri Western. She received a bachelor’s degree in education from Missouri Western State University. In 2018, she received her master’s degree in administration from William Woods University.
Crabtree was also nominated for the Teacher of the Year award in 2022 and 2023.
Crabtree and her husband, Sam, have two daughters, Brie, age 3, and Jane, age 1.5. On April 20, they had a baby boy, Oliver Jay.
She was nominated by a student, Peyton Delt, who wrote: “She was one of the kindest teachers I had ever met. She also had a sense of humor and made our science projects fun. She would tell amazing stories and had amazing ways to teach.”