Elementary teacher says she will retire<\/b><\/p>\n
The absence of Debbie Stone around the classrooms and halls of Carriage Crest Elementary School will likely be felt next year.<\/p>\n
The longtime Kent School District kindergarten teacher, who has taught at Carriage Crest for the last 18 years, will retire come summertime with a total of 27 years in education under her belt. There are some who are already mourning the loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s just a fabulous teacher who is warm and caring, but also provides a structured environment for the kids,\u201d said Bernadette Salgado, whose daughter, Marley, is currently one of Stone\u2019s kindergartners. \u201cThe times that I\u2019ve been (in her class) the kids are just captivated, and they are really able to flourish because of her teaching methods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salgado also said her fourth-grade son, Michael, a former Stone student, greatly benefited from the teacher\u2019s techniques. Her appreciation for the teacher was so strong that she recently wrote a letter of praise to the Carriage Crest principal expressing her thanks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just wanted to express to the principal how great she was,\u201d Salgado said. \u201cMichael is doing so well in school now, and I really think it\u2019s because of Mrs. Stone. Hopefully the children will have that good of an experience the rest of their education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Black Diamond resident Stone, 55, attended Washington State University to start her education career, graduating in 1974. She later received a master\u2019s degree in teaching from Lewis & Clark University.<\/p>\n
She took her first job teaching sixth-graders in 1975 at a school in Vancouver, working there until her two daughters were born, one after the other.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a parent helping with my first daughter when she was in kindergarten, and the teacher of that class said, \u2018You need to get back into teaching soon, and I want you to teach kindergarten,\u2019\u201d Stone said. \u201cI trusted her, and that was the great beginning of teaching kindergarten. It was a great move for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family moved north, and Stone took her first kindergarten job at Meridian Elementary School in Kent. She also would go on to teach at Ridgewood Elementary School and later Carriage Crest, in their respective first years of opening. She would make Carriage Crest her home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a great school,\u201d Stone said. \u201cThe parents are so supportive, and the children are great. I\u2019ve had 410 kindergartners here now. It\u2019s just been a real joy to work with those children, and we\u2019ve had a great staff this whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stone said some of her most valuable memories over the years have been the things her students say. She has many of the memorable quotes written down.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery now and then they will say something that is just so precious and just so innocent,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just so funny the way they say it that you write it down. So it\u2019s fun to look back over the years on some of those.\u201d<\/p>\n
And kindergarten is definitely the best job for her. She says it\u2019s exciting to be a part of a child\u2019s first school experience and see each of them develop through the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the first one to teach these children,\u201d Stone said. \u201cI get to teach them how to do school and kind of shape them and help them to have a love of learning which will hopefully take them through the rest of their school career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her efforts haven\u2019t gone without reward. In addition to the joy of watching her kindergartners blossom each year, she recently received the Carriage Crest Outstanding Educator Award, presented by the Carriage Crest Parent Teacher Student Association. Her greatest rewards, though, are often standing outside her door after class.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite often I have kids waiting outside of my door at the end of the day who just want a hug or want to say hi, and that\u2019s such a thrill,\u201d Stone said. \u201cIt makes me feel like in some way I\u2019ve impacted their life, and I feel very rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n
The teacher said she\u2019ll be sad to say goodbye to her longtime career and all the people at Carriage Crest, but she\u2019s ready to move on to the next phase of her life. Her daughters, Lisa Kelley and Wendy Schaafsma, recently had babies, and she\u2019s ready to be a grandparent with her husband, Erie. She also likes to ski, play golf and travel, so she\u2019s looking forward to that.<\/p>\n
But the teaching torch has been passed. Both her daughters are educators, too. They\u2019re on maternity leave now, but Kelly worked as youth director at Maple Valley Presbyterian Church and Schaafsma taught at Sunrise Elementary School.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love that both of them are also working with youth,\u201d Stone said. \u201cWorking with our future is just so important, and I feel such pride that my daughters are doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Daniel Mooney at 253-437-6012 or dmooney@reporternewspapers.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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