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Rosa Aycock retires from teaching
By Barry Merrill NL Publisher 1 August 2007 — While area students are shopping for back-to-school and trying to fit a final trip to the beach in before school starts, and the football fields are starting to see some action again, one area teacher is going in a different direction. Rosa Aycock left her “chalk” at Glendale-Kenly Elementary last week. For the first time in thirty years, she really doesn’t have any set direction for the fall. Rosa officially retired at Princeton School in the spring, but worked at this year’s Summer Academy, helping third and fourth grade students who struggled with the End of Grade (EOG) math test. She has been a regular at the Summer Academy. This year session’s ended last week as students re-took the EOG. She reflected on her thirty years in the school system last week. Rosa is a Princeton native, the daughter of Inez and the late Acy Arthur. She is a 1973 graduate of Princeton High School, and went on to Atlantic Christian College (now Barton) for her bachelor's of science degree in Elementary Education. She completed the degree work in December of 1976, and received her parchment in May 1977. That fall, Principal Calvin Warren put her on the staff at Selma Elementary as a second grade teacher. As would become the pattern for her career, she shifted from time to time to different grade levels, teaching second through fifth graders. In 1985, Principal Fred Bartholomew offered her a second-grade teaching position at Princeton, which she accepted to be closer to her own children, Princeton students themselves. Ten years later, Mrs. Aycock accepted an offer from Principal Bill Gilbert to join the staff at Glendale-Kenly Elementary, in mobile classrooms after the fire at the school. When Mr. Gilbert left, she worked for Principal Bryan Martin. Again in 2002, family called her back to Princeton. Rosa wanted to be near her mother, who was experiencing some health issues. She began working again at Princeton School, this time for Principal Kirk Denning, as she puts it, “wherever Mr. Denning needed me.” While teaching at different grade levels from one year to the next might have been a bit challenging for some, it helped make this last three years' teaching more special for Mrs. Aycock. “I taught the same students for three years in a row, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade,” she said. “I really got to know them. I really enjoyed that.” While she has formed lasting friendships with many co-workers over the years, three who stand out to Rosa are Suzanne Carter, who remains a close friend, former Princeton teacher Jane Cox, and Edith Creech, who Rosa describes as an “icon of education.” She also praises her principals, as excellent. She appreciated Mr. Warren’s leadership as her first principal. He was “old school,” and she felt that approach gave her excellent orientation as a new teacher. Fred Bartholomew was appreciated by Rosa for always seeking the best for the community and the school. She praised her two principals at Glendale-Kenly. She was impressed that even though the school was housed in the mobile classrooms when she arrived, Mr. Gilbert made sure the staff had an excellent technology department. She appraised Mr. Martin as an excellent administrator. Her last principal, Mr. Denning, she said was “such an easily mannered individual. He is very concerned about the staff, and also for the teachers and staff as individuals.” As she reflects on the profession at the end of her career, she has a lot of empathy for the students who struggle with testing. She noted that while she understands the need for accountability, she wishes that something could be done to de-emphasize testing. “I wish we could reduce the amount of testing and the impact that testing has on educational careers. Some of the kids have test anxiety. We are test driven.” Despite many changes in society and parental attitudes, she still sees kids as they always have been, and is still optimistic about the challenge of education. “They will learn given the right opportunities.” Over the years, she and her husband, Ray Aycock, managed to raise three fine children. Justin, 27, is following in the family tradition. He will return as a social studies teacher at Princeton High School this fall, after having started his teaching career at Rosewood. Rosa’s mother and aunt were also teachers. Jessica is 24 now, living in Las Vegas, Nevada. She works for Wells Fargo Bank in trust management and financial planning. The youngest, Matthew, 22, is completing his degree at Johnston Community College to go into law enforcement. Ray is currently working in maintenance at Cherry Hospital, so while they don’t have immediate plans, Rosa is sure they will be spending some time traveling in the months and years ahead.
“I might become a student, along with traveling, and I might seek another job. Right now I am going to enjoy being at home for a while.”
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