R-II holds retirement party for Charlotte Miller

By Theo Tate
Posted 6/5/22

Charlotte Miller returned home to Montgomery County in 2000.

She was hired as a special education teacher at Montgomery County Middle School, starting a 22-year career with the R-II School …

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R-II holds retirement party for Charlotte Miller

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Charlotte Miller returned home to Montgomery County in 2000.

She was hired as a special education teacher at Montgomery County Middle School, starting a 22-year career with the R-II School District.

“It was nice to be back and to have pretty much the bulk of my career back at the school district I attended and graduated from,” Miller said.

Now, Miller is planning on retiring from the school district. A retirement party was held for her on May 20 at the MCMS cafeteria. Over 30 people attended the two-hour event.

“We’re going to miss her a whole lot,” said Christina Poggas, a special education teacher at Montgomery County High School.

Poggas and R-II special education secretary Stacy Creech were the main coordinators of Miller’s retirement party. Miller received a wooden rocking chair as one of her farewell gifts.

“They did a nice job,” Miller said.

Miller worked as the district’s director of special services for the last four years. Before that, she was a process coordinator for 10 years.

Miller’s final day with the school district is scheduled for June 30. She has been in the education field for a total of 27 years.

“I’m definitely going to miss the people,” Miller said. “I’ll miss seeing the kids and having some interactions because I don’t have a lot of interactions with kids these days since I’m mostly in the office.”

Miller said one of her biggest highlights during her long career with the R-II school district is going to the Hermann Area Special Olympics every year.

“It’s really rewarding to see them there,” Miller said. “It’s a great day for them. They have fun. It kind of makes it worthwhile to see them enjoy the day out and having fun doing something they love.”

Miller graduated from MCHS in 1986. After graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Miller landed a special education teaching job at an elementary school in Malden, located in the bootheel area of Missouri. She worked a year as a special education teacher in the Mexico School District before being hired to work at the R-II school district.

“There was an opening that came available back here in Montgomery,” Miller said. “I felt like the right thing to do was to apply, try to come back home and give back to the community that has been giving me so much.”

After teaching at MCMS for a few years, Miller returned to school and got her Master’s degree in counseling at Stephens College in Columbia. She then worked as a counselor at now-defunct Bellflower Elementary School for two years.

Miller was later hired to work at the R-II special education office. During that time, she earned a Master’s degree in education administration at William Woods University.

Miller worked as a part-time process coordinator and a part-time high school special education teacher for two years before she became the full-time process coordinator. In 2018, she took over special service director duties after her predecessor retired.

“I have felt blessed to be able to come back to my home to the district where I went to school from K-12,” Miller said. “It has been an honor to serve the district for the vast majority of my career. I will certainly miss all the staff that I have built relationships with and that I feel lucky to have worked with. I will also miss seeing the students in their classrooms making gains and reaching goals. It has been a very rewarding career.”

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