Six North Sanpete educators retire with combined 153 years of service
By Suzanne Dean
Publisher
7-11-2019
Six teachers or teacher assistants with a combined 153 years of service retired from the North Sanpete School District as of the end of the 2018-19 school year.
Susan Allred of Fountain Green was a teaching assistant who spent all of her 36 years with the district at North Sanpete Middle School. She spent her whole career working in special education.
Lois Anderson of Fairview was a teaching assistant for 25 years at Fairview Elementary School. In 2017, she was named as one of the Classified Employees of the Year in the district.
According to her principal Allynne Mower, Anderson worked with students who struggled in reading, math, and who had behavior issues.
She was certified in the Early Steps/Next Steps reading model and the Wilson Reading System, which is an intensive reading intervention. Mower describes her as a “master reading teacher.”
She is also a talented painter, and when she retired, she gave the school a painting of a soaring eagle. According to Mower, she said the picture reminded her of the Reading Thunderbirds of Fairview Elementary and she hoped students will look at it and remember to soar to great heights to achieve their dreams.
Amber Hill of Manti was a teacher for a half year at Fountain Green Elementary School, 18 years at North Sanpete Middle School and two years at North Sanpete High School. For most of those years, she taught social studies at the middle school.
In 2005, she was part of an interdisciplinary team that taught a course on civic responsibility at the middle school. Her students conducted a drive to collect canned goods and quilts for the needy. She also served a term as president of the North Sanpete Education Association and was named North Sanpete Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2015.
Susan Jacobson of Fountain Green was a teaching assistant at Fountain Green Elementary for three years, a teacher at Moroni Elementary for three years and then returned to Fountain Green Elementary where she taught for 16 more years.
As Fountain Green Elementary, she taught kindergarten, first grade and second grade. She was the Fountain Green Teacher of the Year for 2018-19.
“For one very lucky group of students who happen to be seniors in high school now, she was their kindergarten, first and second-grade teacher,” said her principal Robyn Cox.
Susan is an exceptional reading teacher and at the end of last year, 100 percent of her second graders were making typical or above-typical growth in their reading.
There were two signs in her room. One said, “When I Do Good, I Feel Good,” and the other simply stated the Golden Rule.
“Her classroom is all about kindness and treating each other as we want to be treated.” her principal said. “Susan doesn’t just teach her kids the words to these rules, she models them in every aspect of her life. Susan is a dedicated colleague, friend and neighbor. She is always the first one to volunteer to bring a pot of soup or crock pot full of nacho dip to a PTA or Community Council event.”
Kathleen Johnson of Fountain Green was a teaching assistant for 23 years, all of the time at Fountain Green Elementary School.
Her principal says Johnson has worked with students on everything from solving equations to learning the alphabet.
She was trained in Early Steps/Next Steps reading program and helped dozens of struggling readers. She was a STAR tutor, ran the take-home library, worked with autistic students and was often be found in the fifth and sixth-grade math classroom tutoring math students.
Elizabeth Marx of Mt. Pleasant started out as a teaching assistant. She was an assistant at North Sanpete Middle School for 13 years and at Moroni Elementary for four years. She finished out her career as a teacher for eight years at Moroni Elementary.
