DID YOU KNOW? – Sister Alma Wright
(reprinted from The Boston Globe).
has been teaching at the Trotter K-8 School since it opened in 1969. And that’s not even where her career began. Her first BPS teaching assignment was in 1964. She and one other teacher are believed to be the longest-serving teachers working in the district, according to the school department. Their careers have spanned 15 superintendents, the dawn of the classroom computer, and the racial turmoil of the 1970’s. A passion for teaching keeps them coming back. Half of all new Boston teachers leave the classroom within fi ve years, according to a school department review of employment records since 2013, while only seven teachers and guidance counselors out of the 4,500 currently in the system were hired before 1980. Mr. Ronald Johnson, husband of Sis. ValarieJean Brown-Johnson is part of that group. Sis. Alma’s epiphany about teaching came her junior year in high school aft er she and other members of a Future Teachers of America Club were bused into elementary schools in her Florida district to cover unexpected teacher absences. She enjoyed working with the children so much she knew she found her calling. So how long will she remain in the classroom? “One day I will probably wake up and say I’m tired or fi nd something else to do,” she said. “But right now I’m enjoying this.”