Phyllis Betts wraps up 40 years

In today’s world it’s hard to imagine someone spending some 40 years at one job. But when this month comes to an end, Phyllis Betts will have done just that.

Having taken her first job not long after graduating from Eastern Washington State College in 1967, Betts will turn in her keys to Adams Elementary School, retiring as the principal after nearly 26 years of service to the Central Valley District.

Hired as a third-grade teacher at University Elementary School in 1982, Betts taught grades one through three until becoming principal in 1995. In 2004 she moved to Adams elementary.

“There are not a lot of people who can say they thoroughly love their job, but I do,” Betts said as she looked back at a career that began at Madison elementary in Spokane School District 81.

Betts cited a couple of factors in her decision to retire. “I got my house paid for,” she said. “That was a celebration at our house.”

And then, she offered this. “I’ll tell you the honest truth. I hired a teacher I had (as a student) in third grade. And they still say, are you teaching? My morale just couldn’t take it anymore,” Betts said with a laugh. “When I had them in school, they probably thought I was a hundred then.”

Born and raised in Spokane, Betts attended Rogers and Lidgerwood. “I’m dating myself but that was before we had middle schools,” Betts said.

Despite having spent so much time in the field, education was not necessarily a lifelong calling for Betts. “The main options when I got out of high school were you could be a nurse or a teacher or a secretary. That was pretty much it.”

“I didn’t discover I liked it (teaching) so much until I did it for a while,” Betts said. “Once you get into it you can’t help but love it,” she added.

That’s understandable considering that not long after starting teaching, Betts moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as a substitute in the Ponoma Unified School District, east of the city.

Betts said she “grew to love it after a rough beginning,” in an even rougher school.

“One day I substituted in a predominantly minority school. The vice principal came in at the end of the day and I was literally in tears, I was crying,” Betts recalled.

“What’s the matter?” the administrator asked. “Don’t ever call me for this school again,” Betts said. He told Betts, “All our substitutes say that.”

Betts said she did go back, “many times, and grew to love it. I learned so much from subbing there. I think I grew a lot from that experience. I think it made me a far better teacher. You really had to think on your feet.”

Teaching captivated Betts because, “it’s very, very self-fulfilling because you get such feedback from the kids and families.” “It’s just very, very rewarding. Like you’re doing something important,” she said.

Returning to Spokane in 1981, Betts began her career in the district in 1982, teaching at University elementary. “My kids went there, I was PTA president and teacher all at the same time,” Betts said.

Whether having mom as their teacher was an issue, “depended on which child you were talking to,” Betts said. “(For) some of them it was just fine and some of them not so much.”

Two of her three children have left Spokane – one daughter lives in Maryland, another in Seattle and a son in Spokane. When asked if any had chosen the same career path as their mother, Betts replied, “not a one involved in education. They’ve (already) done a lot of bulletin boards.”

Betts returned to school at Whitworth in 1989 where she earned a master’s degree.Now that she no longer has to guide her faculty and students every day, Betts immediate plans call for spending time with her family. “My daughter and her husband were nice enough to have a surprise third child that is coming, so in September I’m going to be in Seattle,” she said.

After her grandmotherly duties are done, Betts hopes to travel next year when the baby’s up and running.

And does she have any remorse over her decision?

“Depends on which day you’re talking. Today I have absolutely none. But some days I do,” Betts said.

“I’m sure I’ll miss it,” Betts admitted, adding that “one of my former superintendent’s has been in touch. I told him I’m kind of nervous, I don’t have a plan.

” ‘You don’t have to have a plan,’ he told me. ‘Just take it one day at a time.’ ”