By Matt Hoover
USD 475 Communications Coordinator
JUNCTION CITY, Kan. – The hallways and classrooms of Junction City High School were filled with excitement and learning this week as new teachers and staff received a crash course on what it is like to become a part of the Geary County Schools USD 475 family at the 2026 New Teacher Orientation.
For three teachers it was extra special as Angela Dau, Rhiannon Miller and Yolanda Salas Flores were reunited after five years apart. See from 2019 through 2021 the trio not only taught side-by-side together but also shared a hallway as fourth and fifth-grade teachers, respectively, at Freedom Elementary in St. Robert, Mo., near Fort Leonard Wood.“It was a nice surprise to see familiar faces and work together again. I'm grateful we had the chance to reconnect here in USD 475,” said Miller, who will teach third grade at Spring Valley Elementary this school year.
Fast forward to this past Monday and Dau, an Instructional Coach at Eisenhower Elementary, Miller, and Salas Flores, an EL teacher at Washington Elementary, were all smiles as military assignments and family moves brought each of them to USD 475. Although they will no longer teach at the same school and share a hallway, the friendship and bond they built over the years remain as strong as ever.