After 30 years, Pack leaves classroom

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Centertown Title I math teacher Bettye Pack tucks her personal belongings away after retiring from the school, where she has taught for 30 years. (Amy Satterwhite photo)

Packing up her room Monday, it seemed Centertown teacher Bettye Pack didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

That was because come this fall, the veteran teacher won’t be concentrating on innovative ways to teach children who need extra help. Instead, she will likely be spending her time studying genealogy and sewing.

After 30 years of teaching, Pack is retiring.

Although she graduated from MTSU with a bachelor’s degree in general home economics, she became a special education resource teacher for Centertown in 1975 and stayed in the position for 21 years, obtaining special education and elementary education endorsements along the way.

During that time, she said there were numerous changes in special education. Everything from the way special education students are identified, to technology, to the numbers of people working in the field, to the inclusion of gifted children in special education, has evolved.

“When I first started, there were maybe eight to 10, and it’s a large group of people now,” Pack said of people working as special educators throughout the Warren County school system. “There has been so much added. It was just kind of getting off the ground as far as being offered in all the schools because new legislation had been passed.”

Pack’s focus was narrowed to teaching one subject area about nine years ago, when she became the remedial math teacher for kindergarten through fifth grades at the school. Her main job has been to reinforce and coordinate with the lessons taught in students’ classrooms.

“They might be having problems mastering basic skills,” Pack said of issues her students faced. “We want to give them a little extra individual help with small groups. Sometimes, that’s all they need is that one-on-one attention.”

Pack, 52, has mixed feelings about hanging up her hat, and Centertown principal Jane Moore said the veteran educator will be truly missed. School staff members had a luncheon for aide Bernice Driver and Pack in honor of their retirement Friday.

“She’s had an excellent influence on the students,” Moore said. “She has always done her best to make it work for the students, has been concerned about their futures and had a very caring attitude. It has been a pleasure to work with her all these years.”

Pack said her one main goal has always been to make a difference.

“I’ve tried to be caring, listen and have patience,” she added of her career. “I hope I’ve had a positive impact.”