Loretta Ellis, kindergarten teacher at McKinley Elementary School, and Becky South, language and science teacher at Iola Middle School, were recognized as USD 257 elementary and secondary teachers of the year Monday night at the USD 257 Board of Education meeting.
South was out of town and unable to attend. She has taught at IMS the past 12 years. Previously, she was a fifth-grade teacher at St. Mary’s Grade School, David City, Neb., 1981-83, and at Kanoplis Middle School, Ellsworth, 1989-97. South is a graduate of Nebraska Wesley University, Lincoln, and holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with an endorsement in special education.
Ellis, who celebrates her 61st birthday today, has taught kindergarten at McKinley School for 32 years.
“And I’ve been in the very same room all that time,” she said.
Prior to becoming a full-time district instructor, Ellis was a substitute teacher for six years in several grades after earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Emporia State University.
She has worked with the SAFE BASE after-school program since it began 10 years ago. She also helps with summer SAFE BASE and other USD 257 summer sessions.
Monday morning, showing the patience that has helped Ellis deal with first-year students for more than three decades, she tutored a gaggle of children in SAFE BASE classes at Lincoln Elementary, giving them the positive reinforcement each craved.
“That’s a neat airplane,” Ellis told Taurus Granderson as she gave him a hug, and listened attentively as Anna Taylor explained the architectural complexities of the object she was putting together with Legos.
The youngest students are among the neatest, Ellis said, adding she has no idea how many students she has helped adjust to formal education over the years.
“The past four years, since all-day kindergarten started, I’ve had 20 or less each year,” she said. “Before that, 20 to 25 (each attended) half-day classes, morning and afternoon, and there were years I’ve had 30 in each session every day.”
Children of former students have arrived for her classes in recent years, “but I intend to retire before I start having grandchildren,” as students, Ellis quipped.
ELLIS AND South were nominated and voted on by their peers, which Ellis called “very humbling. It’s also heart-warming and makes me very proud to have gotten this special honor from them.”
Ellis noted she likely would teach three more years.
“My certification expires in 2013 and I don’t plan to renew it.”
