We asked Gardner Edgerton school board candidates about teacher pay, vaccines and students using preferred pronouns.
Maria Benevento
Maria Benevento is The Beacon’s education reporter. She joined The Beacon as a Report for America corps member. In addition to her work at The Beacon, she’s reported for the National Catholic Reporter, Columbia Missourian and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Her education reporting began in 2017, and she became a full-time Kansas City education reporter with The Beacon in mid-2021. She graduated from Creighton University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in theology and American studies. In 2021, she graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a master's degree in journalism. She’s lived in Missouri most of her life and first moved to Kansas City in 2017.
Posted inElections
Voter guide: Meet your Blue Valley school board candidates for 2025
All five candidates answered questions about their priorities if elected and their positions on six issues.
Posted inElections
Vaccines, taxes, pronouns: Here’s where the Kansas City, Kansas, school board candidates stand in 2025
Half of the KCKPS candidates agreed that funding for the district is burdening taxpayers too much.
Posted inElections
Meet the De Soto USD 232 school board candidates for 2025
Six candidates for the school board in De Soto, Kansas, answered questions about their priorities and their positions on issues facing schools.
Posted inEducation
Raytown considers closing a middle school to address declining enrollment
Raytown Quality Schools is seeking public feedback on two draft proposals, one of which would reconfigure the district’s middle schools. The other would affect fewer students.
Posted inEducation
How methane gas from deep underground caused two Raytown schools to close for weeks
Some of the deep geothermal wells from the schools’ heating and cooling system allowed methane to accumulate below a parking lot. But repairs are underway.
Posted inEducation
Audit finds that Independence school board violated Missouri Sunshine Law, but district earned ‘good’ rating overall
An audit of the district found the board discussed topics in closed meetings that should have been public. But the district received an overall rating of ‘good.’
Posted inEducation
Independence School District chooses familiar Missouri group to run superintendent search
Teachers union members said they want the board to consider outside candidates, but that Interim Superintendent Cindy Grant is already improving morale and trust.
Posted inEducation
After federal guidelines shift, JCCC restricts access to English classes for some immigrants
In response to changing federal guidance, Johnson County Community College is screening applicants to its adult English classes based on their immigration status.
Posted inEducation
Lee’s Summit schools serve growing number of English language learners
The growth in the number of students learning English is one of several ways the district is becoming more diverse.