Another Retirement

Rodney Stewart came to Armuchee Elementary in the fall of 2004 as our new principal. I appreciated that he was quick to buy into our EIC program that had begun under his wonderful predesessor, Anita Stewart (no relation). EIC is a well-researched and effective program for using the environment as an integrating context for learning. For the next several years AES was a poster school for learning in the context of the real world around us. We had kids out in the courtyards, the playgrounds, the nature trails observing measuring, timing, collecting, weighing, magnifying, recording data; and then coming in to analyze what they had observed,  discuss their discoveries, research questions about their observations, write about their experiences, and more. 

I really saw Rodney's heart when tragedy struck our school. A fifth grade student was killed in a four-wheeler accident. Rodney led us through that crisis with amazing poise and sensitivity and love. It is hard for me to imagine anyone handling such a sad and trying time with greater grace, compassion, and strength. I will always revere Rodney for that leadership.

And then there were the silly times. When we raised enough in his "penny-drop" fundraising project, he moved his desk to the roof for the day. I used that as an opportunity to have a gravity lesson: he dropped items of varying weight from the roof and my kids observed them striking the ground at the same time.

Rodney put up with a lot from the crazy teacher at the end of the fourth grade hall. Early in one school year he came by our classroom door and peeked in as I conducted my annual "Discovering America Across Beringia" lesson that involved having kids climbing atop their desks (representing the former floor of the Bering Strait now exposed by the falling sea level and growing ice cap). He says he just sighed and walked back to the office praying no broken bones resulted.

After I retired I got involved in a new cause and went straight to Rodney with it. He was the first principal in the county to sign on to the YoungTales storytelling/writing program so near and dear to my heart and stuck with it through all six years (till Covid struck it on March 11, 2020).

I think Rodney realized, with Plutarch, that education is about kindling a flame, not filling a vessel.

Here are a few pictures from the retirement celebration we had at AES this morning.

As it has turned out, I served nine years while he led our school. Then in retirement he continued as my friend and a great supporter of both of my two big retirement endeavors: the YoungTales storytelling/writing program and Arrowhead Environmental Education Center.

Some of the teachers present had left before we got this picture.

Dr. Nancy Johal Singh has been a dear friend of close to two decades now.

Maggie was my first assistant principal at AES. I had known her for years as a wonderful teacher at Midway Elementary.

Vivian Johnson was a great teacher at AES who was sometimes on our fourth grade team with me. Vivian figures into one of my favorite impractical joke memories, but I'll save that one for another time.