WEST VALLEY CITY — Linda Ballesteros has spent 38 years teaching first-graders to read and mind their penmanship, with more than 37 of them in the same Hillsdale Elementary School classroom.
Last week, the granddaughter of educator J.A. Taylor, after whom a Davis District school is named, strode out of her classroom for the last time.
Ballesteros is one of three teachers with more than 30 years experience to retire from the Granite District school this year, principal Donna Reid said. The others are Lori Treadway, a fourth-grade teacher of 30 years, and Sue Lovell, a sixth-grade teacher with nearly 35 years in the trade.
"There's quite a significant number of teachers, when they come to this school, they love working with this public and they just devote their whole careers to working with what you might describe as at-risk students," said Reid, whose school receives federal Title I funding for low-income schools and is helping half its students become proficient in English. "It's not easy . . . but these teachers, they just love this population and they love working hard. They're very good at what they do."
The teaching profession makes its way, directly and indirectly, into Utah's public debates on student achievement, No Child Left Behind, and whether students exit high school with skills needed for college or the workforce.
But teachers with some four decades in the classroom focus on their more immediate charges: Children.
"I just love first grade, the challenges of trying to help (students)," Ballesteros said. "I've felt kind of committed."
The Hillsdale trio are among 118 Granite District employees to retire over the past year, putting in 3,064 years combined. District Title I director Richard Hyland's 43-year career is the longest among them.
Other districts, too, are saying goodbye to a cadre of education veterans.
Viewmont and Bountiful high school counselors Gerald Waldvogel and Truman Carver are bidding their schools farewell after 40 and 39 years in the business, respectively. Alta High counselor Joy Waldron's career also has spanned 39 years.
Thirty-eight-year veterans include Highland High's Roy Corsi; Nebo District risk manager and former Payson High principal Cary Bailey; Taylorsville High social studies teacher Robert L. Crane; and Hunter Elementary third-grade teacher Carolyn Sagers.
Salt Lake City's Whittier principal Patti O'Keefe is retiring after 37 years in education.
Stewart A. Francom, who taught all of his 34 years at Spanish Fork High, including classes in Advanced Placement biology — which he initiated in 1988 — estimates he's taught 20,000 students, including budding doctors, engineers and a lawyer.
"The idea at the time (he entered education) was to make a difference, to make the world a better place for the kids. I worked hard at it," said Francom, whose honors include outstanding, most effective and students' favorite teacher awards. "I worked with fine people — you might say the best."
Ballesteros, whom colleagues describe as continually innovative and often requested by parents, shared the same sentiment at a school awards ceremony last week.
"I think this is the most wonderful school in the world," she said. "All the boys and girls at Hillsdale are the very best. Maybe I'll come back and (substitute teach) a little so I don't miss you as much."
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com