For the first time in the 142-year history of Goddard Public Schools, one of our educators has been named Kansas Teacher of the Year.
On Saturday evening, September 19, USD 265-Eisenhower Middle School teacher Brandy Lane was announced as the 2027 Kansas Teacher of the Year. It was a moment of Goddard history that those fortunate enough to witness it will never forget.
When Brandy’s name was announced, the table filled with her family, colleagues, friends, students, and Goddard Public Schools leaders erupted. There were cheers, hugs, tears, and an overwhelming sense of pride. Brandy was overcome with emotion as her family surrounded her and celebrated an honor more than two decades in the making.
For those of us who know how hard Brandy has worked, the emotion was very real. And when Brandy finally stepped to the microphone, she immediately did exactly what those who know her would expect. She made the moment about everyone else.
“Even though my name was just called, I am abundantly aware that I did not get to this point on my own.”
Brandy thanked the educators who built her foundation, the colleagues who challenged and encouraged her, the administrators and mentors who believed in her, the students who have kept her learning, and the family who has shared her with this profession for more than 20 years.
“My name was called, but nearly everything that is being recognized in me was given to me by somebody else.”
That humility is part of what makes this historic recognition so fitting.
A CLASSROOM BUILT AROUND BELONGING AND JOY
Brandy has spent more than 20 years in public education and has taught at Eisenhower Middle School since 2018. At the heart of her teaching philosophy is a simple belief: education is about more than mastering content. It is about creating belonging.
“When students know they matter, they rise.”
A visit to Brandy’s classroom may not look exactly like how you remember school. Students might gather around a classroom “campfire” to share microfiction stories. They may find a fishing hole or pool party waiting for them as they practice grammar. They might transform into doctors researching fictional “middle school diseases.” Vocabulary comes alive through movement, conversation, games, laughter, and collaboration. There is tremendous creativity in Brandy’s classroom, but none of it happens by accident.
She believes learning should be engaging, inclusive, purposeful, and joyful. She listens to student voices, provides multiple ways for children to experience learning, and creates environments where reluctant readers, advanced learners, English Language Learners, and students with learning differences can all experience success.
As Brandy wrote in describing her own teaching philosophy, “Rigor and joy are partners.”
The academic results matter. Her students demonstrate significant growth. But Brandy has always understood that some of the most important outcomes cannot be measured on an assessment. They are found in confidence. In curiosity. In a young person who discovers that their voice matters.
Former student Haddie Satrom described herself as naturally introverted. In Brandy’s classroom, she found herself volunteering to read aloud. A year later, that confidence had carried into other classrooms as well. Haddie wrote that Brandy “inspired me and others to work together, to be kinder, and to believe in ourselves just as much as she believes in us.”
THOUSANDS OF MOMENTS NO ONE SEES
Those who know Brandy know Saturday night’s award was not built on one lesson, one application, or one extraordinary year. It was built through thousands of ordinary moments. Through remembering a student’s story, noticing when something was different, picking up a conversation from days or weeks earlier, and knowing enough about the young person standing in front of her to understand what they needed next.
It was built through never giving up on a child.
Even during the summer, Brandy continues working with students who struggle with reading. In one summer literacy program, middle school students improve their fluency and then use those new skills to read to younger children. Students typically increase their reading fluency by 18 to 25 words per minute during the three-week experience, but Brandy says the transformation in confidence matters just as much. One family who recommended Brandy for this recognition may have described her influence best, “She makes others around her stronger.”
HER IMPACT REACHES FAR BEYOND HER CLASSROOM
That description applies equally to Brandy’s work with other educators. Brandy helped reimagine the Goddard Mentoring Program from primarily a licensure requirement into a districtwide network built around growth, reflection, relationships, and instructional excellence. Today, the program serves more than 60 mentor-mentee pairs each year across Goddard Public Schools.
She also serves as Eisenhower Middle School’s English Language Arts Department Head, a Goddard Mentoring Program lead, mentor teacher, and member of the district accreditation leadership team and building MTSS committee. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and New Teacher Center Mentor Trainer. Yet when Brandy was given one of the largest platforms of her career Saturday night, she did not talk about titles.
She talked about learning. “None of us are ever finished learning.”
She talked about borrowing great ideas from other teachers, changing a lesson when her students show her something is not working, asking better questions, and remaining willing to learn just as educators ask their students to do.
“Doesn’t every kid deserve adults just like that?” she asked. “Adults who are willing to learn like we’re begging them to do? Adults who keep asking, ‘What else can we try? How else can we do this?’”
Then she described the profession she loves in a way only a teacher could. “It’s extraordinary work that we’re doing. It’s messy and it’s exhausting and it’s hopeful. And I’m so grateful that it’s my life’s work.”
ONE GENERATION INSPIRING THE NEXT
There was another person in the room Saturday night who made the moment especially meaningful. Cassidy, a senior at Eisenhower High School and participant in the Future Teachers of America program, was there serving at the event. As part of her school experience, Cassidy spends time learning alongside Brandy during the school day. So, as one of Kansas’ future educators watched, one of her own mentors became the Kansas Teacher of the Year.
During her acceptance remarks, Brandy acknowledged the students who have helped shape her, including one who was sitting in the room. “To my students, past and present, thank you for letting me be your teacher. You kept me learning and you kept me curious.”
There was something wonderfully full-circle about that moment. Brandy was shaped by educators who invested in her. She has spent her career pouring those lessons into thousands of students and fellow educators. Now another young person considering a life in education is watching, learning, and imagining what her own journey might become.
That is how great educators leave legacies.
A HISTORIC NIGHT FOR OUR #265FAMILY
Brandy was surrounded Saturday evening by her family, friends, colleagues, students, and Goddard Public Schools district leaders, including Superintendent of Schools Dr. Justin Henry, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Julie Cannizzo, Assistant Superintendent Jess Herbig, and Director of Community Relations Dane Baxa.
For those who know Brandy, the tears Saturday night represented much more than an award. They represented her family and the countless evenings and weekends they shared her with this profession. They represented the students who walked into her classroom unsure of themselves and left knowing they were capable. They represented new teachers she encouraged when the profession felt overwhelming.
And they represented thousands of quiet moments that no camera captures and no award application can completely explain, but that ultimately define extraordinary teaching. Dr. Henry, USD 265 Superintendent of Schools, stated, “In 142 years of Goddard Public Schools, we have never had one of our own named Kansas Teacher of the Year. It is an extraordinary moment for our district, but what makes it so meaningful is knowing the person behind the recognition. Brandy brings a genuine joy to this profession and a belief in people that is contagious. She sees potential in students, encourages the educators around her, and reminds us that even the smallest moments of connection can change a life. I could not be more proud of Brandy, and I am grateful that Kansas will get to experience the same hope and positivity she brings to our schools every day.”
Saturday night, the State of Kansas recognized what generations of Brandy’s students, families, and colleagues have experienced firsthand.
PUBLIC EDUCATION IS A PROMISE
Brandy now begins a year representing Kansas teachers and students, learning alongside the other members of the 2027 Kansas Teacher of the Year team and traveling across the state to listen, learn, and share the stories of public education. Months before she knew whether her name would ever be called, Brandy wrote, “We are not simply teaching and learning content; we are shaping possibility.”
Saturday night, standing on the stage as the 2027 Kansas Teacher of the Year, she returned to that same belief. She reminded everyone in the room that education is not simply about filling young people with information. It is about helping them understand that learning belongs to them.
Then she shared the message she will now have the opportunity to carry across Kansas, “Public education is a promise that we’ve made to one another, to every community that we’re in, that every child has a place where they are known, they are challenged, they are supported, and they are surrounded by people who believe in them and know that they are our future.”
And then, perhaps most fittingly, Kansas’ newly named Teacher of the Year reminded us that promise does not belong to one person. “That promise does not belong to teachers, or just administrators, or even just the school district. It belongs to all of us. We are a team, and I cannot wait to see what we do together.”
For 142 years, extraordinary educators have quietly changed lives throughout Goddard Public Schools. Saturday night, for the first time in our history, one of them was named Kansas Teacher of the Year.
Brandy, we could not be more proud of you. Thank you for seeing our students and believing in them. Thank you for investing in the educators around you. Thank you to your family for sharing so much of you with our #265Family.
And thank you for reminding all of us why this work matters.
Congratulations, Brandy Lane, 2027 Kansas Teacher of the Year!
Your entire #265Family is celebrating with you, and we cannot wait to see where this opportunity of a lifetime takes you next.