Three educators retire from Creston Schools

Creston Community School administration, staff and students bid farewell to three educators last week as school let out for the summer.

It’s a bittersweet time for Pam Dunham, Betty Gordon and Judy Jones who have a combined total of 90 years experience at the district. The three remember special memories and challenges, as well as, how students, the district and education have changed over the years.

Pam Dunham

Dunham has taught in the district for 36 years – 20 years were spent in special education and 16 years were spent in kindergarten.

“I’ve been cleaning 36 years worth of stuff out of my classroom,” she said. “I have upwards of 3,500 books in my classroom that are being cleaned, sorted, passed out and shared with others.”

Dunham moved to Creston from Michigan in the 1970s to teach special education after disability rights legislation was passed in Iowa. All special education students were allowed to come to the public school system.

“That meant a lot of special ed jobs were opening up,” said Dunham.

Dunham always wanted to become a teacher, and enjoyed creating materials and activities for her “learners.”

As special ed students became more integrated into their classrooms, Dunham decided it was time for a change, and began teaching kindergarten.

“They both (special ed/kdgn) have their high rewards and both have their issues,” she said.

She has many memories from her days in the classroom. One memory involves a surprise batch of babies born to the class gerbils.

“We had two (gerbils) and we thought they were the same sex,” said Dunham. “We found out they weren’t the same sex. One morning we discovered a nest of seven pink babies in the corner. We got a cage for dad.”

After transferring the gerbils to separate cages it was discovered the female gerbil was pregnant four hours after giving birth.

“So we had 15 baby gerbils to give away that year,” she said with a chuckle.

During her years at Creston, Dunham saw quite a few changes, including the transition to all day kindergarten and the end of Creston’s neighborhood schools.

“I think that was a good move for Creston Schools,” she said. “There’s no longer competition between the north side and the south side.”

However, there are some changes Dunham would like to see the district implement, like year round school.

“A shorter break during the summer would result in less loss of knowledge and skills,” she said. “It would still be a six week break in the summer, not nothing.”

Dunham was recognized by the University of Iowa as Teacher of the Year in the 1990s. She was also recognized by Walmart as Teacher of the Year.

In her retirement, Dunham plans to stay in Creston. She also plans to visit her family in Michigan.

“Creston has treated me very well and I have no plans to move,” she said.

Betty Gordon

Betty Gordon is a 1970 graduate of Creston High School. After graduating from college, she taught in Council Bluffs for three years before returning to Creston in 1977 to teach and get married.

She retired with 34 years of teaching experience. Gordon taught in the lower elementary for 29 years. For the past five years she has taught middle school courses – three years in family and consumer sciences and two years in sixth grade reading.

When Gordon moved back to Creston early childhood programs were a high educational priority across the state, she said.

“That was an area that really interested me,” she said.

Gordon will miss many things about teaching but she’ll miss the people the most, she said.

“The kids have been really good,” she said. “Wonderful staff and colleagues. Good friends. Always worked together as a team. It was a really a joy to go to work everyday.”

Gordon has seen many aspects of education change over the years. One of the bigger areas of change has been the technology.

Teachers didn’t used to have telephones in their rooms. Now they have not only become used to having phones in their room, but also seeing many of the students carrying a personal cell phone.

Years ago teachers would usually only see parents at conference time. That has changed.

“Now there’s communication going home continually through daily plan books or a note going home,” she said. “Communication with parents is so easy with email and cell phones.”

Gordon remembers the days of chalkboards and whiteboards.

“We were so excited when we got to have a whiteboard in our room we could use colored markers on,” she said.

Now many of the teachers have interactive white boards called SMART boards.

In her retirement, Gordon has plans to spend time with her family, pursue hobbies and work part time.

Judy Jones

Jones was raised in Prescott. After graduation from college, she returned to Creston to student teach under teacher Chuck Eilers.

After staying home a couple of years to raise her children, she taught in Prescott and did some substitute teaching.

She retired with 26 years of experience – 20 years in Creston, 17 years were spent in the alternative school.

Jones returned to the Creston district when a part-time teacher’s aid position opened in 1991 at the alternative school. She taught for a year in middle school science before accepting a full-time position at the alternative school (High Lakes Country Academy).

Jones’ original intent was to become a physical therapist, but with a new family she decided to pursue teaching.

“I got married and needed something closer to home,” she said.

Jones said one of the things she enjoyed the most about teaching was the freedom of being able to put together her own curriculum. However, the No Child Left Behind legislation and state curriculum mandates took away much of the freedom.

“We have to have highly qualified teachers, which means teachers at the high school who are certified in each area, approve all the curriculum that we use down here,” she said.

When Jones started teaching she remembers the alternative school was made up of juniors and seniors, so the students were in many of the same classes. This made it easier to teach the students in a group setting.

“(With the different grade levels) now we have students working on so many different things at one time,” she said. “It’s kind of like a country school. We’ve got U.S. history, government, world history, different levels of English.”

Following her retirement, Jones said she plans to visit her children, travel and work on her house. She also plans to renew her teaching certificate in case she decides to do some substitute teaching.

“I really enjoyed my time in the Creston district,” she said. “It’s been a good experience for me. I learned a lot.”