By Linda Stinnett

Members of the Derby Chamber of Commerce joined the 58 new teachers and administrators for Derby Public Schools for lunch on Wednesday, Aug. 8 – their first day at work.

The annual luncheon is an effort to welcome the new teachers to the community and show them what the local business sector has to offer. Chamber members, consisting of 31 businesses, churches and local organizations, set up booths to show what they have to offer. All of the new employees left the luncheon with door prizes donated by Chamber members – ranging from free hair cuts to rolling coolers to backpacks full of items to baskets full of school supplies to a new Apple television.  

The chamber, city staff and school staff presented information to the new teachers about Derby, working to give them an overview of the community they have joined by working in the school district.

“Thank you so much for deciding to come to the Derby community,” said Susan Norton, Chamber board member and Wichita State University director of satellite campuses and workforce development.

More of the new teachers and administrators graduated from WSU than any other, according to Heather Bohaty, Derby Public Schools assistant superintendent - human resources. 

Other trivia on the new employees:

• Three have retired from the district and are now returning.

• One was a paraprofessional for the district and returned after getting a degree to a teaching job.

• Seven are Derby High School graduates.