Some school districts and schools do not list teacher information on their website. If you can’t find anything like this, it may not exist.
If someone at the school remembers you, ask them for help. Even if the main office won’t lend you a hand, an old teacher who knows you just might.
Example searches might include: “’Dan Garcia’ St. Joseph’s Cincinnati,” or “Ms. Swavorsky Munster High School Springfield Wyoming. ” Even if they aren’t at the same school, their bio on their new school’s website might mention that they worked at your old school, or that they’ve been teaching in your city for a certain number of years.
You can try searching Instagram, Twitter, and other social media sites if you’d like. But LinkedIn and Facebook are the only platforms where people use their own names by default. On Facebook, look for profiles with mutual friends. A lot of students friend their old teachers once they graduate.
You might send your classmate a message like, “Hey! Long time no talk. I hope you’re doing well. Random question: do you know where Ms. Palmer is these days? I’ve been trying to get in touch with her. ”
It helps if you really drive home that you want to thank the teacher you’re looking for. Teachers and school staff really love hearing from students who want to express gratitude, so they’re sure to lend a hand. [10] X Research source
This is an especially good idea if you went to school in a smaller town and/or if you attended a school with a tight-knit community. Your old teacher may even be a member of the alumni association—especially if they went to that school growing up. If there’s a local teacher’s association, you could try contacting them.
Unfortunately, if your state/district doesn’t publish certification info or your old teacher was never certified, this may be a dead end. If you went to a public school, check to see if the district union’s membership records are public. It’s extremely unlikely that they are, but it’s worth a shot.
True People Search is probably the cleanest free tool out there. If you have your teacher’s name and city, the site will scour public records and published data to give you contact information. Social Catfish will pull up any public contact information for your old teacher if you have their name and city locked down. Family TreeNow focuses on genealogy, but you can actually pull addresses for people based on their name and city. You’d only be able to write your old teacher a letter, but this should work!
