TAHS special ed teacher retires after 41 years
Emotions can run high on the last day of school. Normally, there is an air of excitement and relief among both students and staff, but for one member of the Tracy Area High School team, last Tuesday was a mixed bag, filled to the top with both, plus a dash of sadness.
That now-former staff member, special education teacher Jean DeSmith, who has called it a career after a remarkable 41 years — a length of time rarely reached by any staff member of any school.
How did she last so long?
“I don’t really know,” she said last week on her final day when she cleaned her room for the final time — a room once used for Keith Stanton’s math class — after turning her keys in. “I think it’s because my job changed so much over the years. I didn’t do the same thing every year. You have kids who graduate, new kids who come in, new people that move in with different kinds of needs. It’s always something different. We have a case load, and you try to work with the kids that you do the paperwork for.”
DeSmith earned her degree in Special Ed. from St. Cloud State University. She started her career at the elementary school, where she served for one year, teaching a third-grade reading group, some Title kids and some special ed. students. Because of a new vacancy at the high school, she has moved over to the high school.
“I was going to stay one more year and then leave,” she said. “The reason I even came here for an interview — back in the day there were special ed. teachers all over — was my uncle, John Schleppenbach,” DeSmith said. “So I came because I thought it would be a good experience to interview and just see what happens. He always takes credit for me getting the job!”
DeSmith worked with what was then known as EMH and TMH, which is now the mild-moderate developmentally delayed, or DD. After a retirement of Anna Jean Berke and the departure of two more teachers, she was transferred to a position with the mentally-hadicapped. She also found pleasure and self-reward connecting with kids in the school’s work skills program, which typical began with kids at the 10th-grade level.
“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “In high school, I got a chance to do a work study with kids that were learning disabled. At that time, I just knew I wanted to be a special ed. teacher. I always wanted to help a kid that might need a little extra. And working with kids in a smaller group was always rewarding for me.”
The bond DeSmith developed with all of her students is unbreakable, another aspect to her job she appreciated. This year, three special ed. kids graduated.
“I had one for seven years and the other two for six years — that’s a bond that formed with the kids and the families,” DeSmtih said. “So, this year is the perfect year to ‘sail away,’ because those kids are gone.”
The bond is strengthened because of how much direct time she has with the students, as they frequent her classroom multiple times a day, she said. But that bond is a balanced one between friend and teacher, something DeSmith took very seriously.
“I’m the teacher; I show affection toward them, but I’m still their teacher,” she said. “At the end of the year when I hug them, they know that.”
Beginning in 2013, DeSmith also started assistant coaching duties with the cross country team and eventually the track and field team, which, she said, balanced things out nicely for her. At that time, the cross county program saw a sharp increase in participation.
“It was a different connection with kids,” she said. “They all would have nicknames for me, and many times it was like, “Oh, we really never knew what you did.’ A lot of kids didn’t know me; you don’t get teacher of the year doing this because a lot of the other kids don’t know who you are. I had some nice relationship with those kids.”
DeSmith said she has seen a lot of people come and go, including high-level administrators, as well as many changes in technology. She has also seen a lot — “between bomb threats and gas leaks, and construction … a lot of different kids, too,” she said, fighting back a tear or two.
Her plans now include spending more time with her mother; she can also see herself continuing to be involved in the school district, albeit with a lesser role.
“I’ll be here to help out if they need me,” she said. She would also like to be more involved with her Walnut Grove community.
“It’s just kind of reinventing yourself,” she said. “It’s a different state. I can do what I want to do. Summer is just kind of like summer.”
But come fall, she knows things will seem different. Her son, Mark, wants to do some some traveling this year, and after she suggested they hop in the RV this fall, he found himself telling her they can’t leave in the fall because that’s when the new school year starts.
“I told him, ‘If you want to go in the fall, we can go in the fall now,’” she said.
“I’ve always enjoyed our relationship; she always put students first and is a kind, caring passionate person who helped some of most needy students,”said TAHS Supt. Chad Anderson, who served as both principal and superintendent during DeSmith’s tenure. “She was always there to help guide them through high school and prepare there for their next journey. She’ll definitely be missed.”
In anticipation of DeSmith’s retirement the District bought Olivia Pauman into the fold as a substitute teacher last year, and she will fill DeSmith’s position.
“We hired her to be proactive because it’s so important for us to have someone in that position to help our students with special needs,” said Anderson.
Pauman did her student teaching in Tracy as well.
