40 years and counting

Stafford has spent the last four decades as a paraprofessional at New Rockford schools

When Deb Stafford came to school this fall, she began her 40th consecutive year working with New Rockford students. She has been a stable force against a backdrop of continual change in the local education system.

Stafford started her career in August 1979 at Westside Elementary School, in the building that 4th Corporation's office now occupies. Her son Kelly started kindergarten that year. It was the first year New Rockford offered kindergarten, in fact, and she was asked to assist the boys in grades K- 1. She also supervised the lunchroom and playground. Mr. Albert Hohenstein was the Superintendent at the time.

In 1981 came the first of many changes to Stafford's role when the district sold Westside Elementary. During the winter break, students in grades 4 - 6 moved to Central, and Stafford stayed at Westside with her sons and continued to aide students in grades K - 3 for the spring semester.

When school started again in the fall of 1982, all students in K - 12 began attending classes in the same building for the first time. During the next two school years, Stafford worked half days at Central School, and spent the other half of the days at East Central Special Education Unit as an aide in the special needs preschool.

In 1985, she went full-time at New Rockford School, and she has maintained her position as a paraprofessional (or teacher's aide) since. She worked in kindergarten classrooms for a combined 24 years. In the most recent 16 years, she has moved around more. For several years she was placed in the "largest class" in the elementary, and as a result she had the opportunity to follow a couple classes of students up through the elementary. She said the first sixth grade class she aided are now the seniors at New Rockford-Sheyenne School (NR-S).

When the district began its personalized learning programs last year, her schedule changed again. Now she sees students in every grade during their reading block, and she rotates from room to room on any given day. She spends the mornings in grades 1 -2, supervises the lunchroom and playground at mid-day, then ends her day working with students in grades 3-6.

To Stafford, the keys to working with students are mutual respect and boundaries. "If you want them to respect you, you have to respect them too," she said.

Stafford's no-nonsense approach to working with kids is unwavering and effective. She recalls many times when students would try to test the boundaries of appropriate behavior, as kids do. On the playground, she made sure they knew why her standards of behavior were so important to uphold. "My job is to be strict so you go home in one piece," she told them. Then, in the classroom, she ensured that students were on track as required by their teacher. "Somedays, I wasn't the most popular person in the classroom, but they all learned," Stafford said.

Her work with students is not only respected by students, but also by her peers and superiors. NR-S Superintendent Jill Louters noted, "Mrs. Stafford is a stand out employee: she brings as much enthusiasm, energy and passion to her role as a paraprofessional today as she did when I first met her. She created a walking club for kids in the morning, she chaperones field trips, and she provides instructional support using tools that move kids forward in their learning. In addition, students respect her high standards for behavior."

Stafford's willingness to learn has helped her to embrace technology as well, which has advanced dramatically in the past 40 years. In the beginning she made copies of worksheets and tests using a Ditto machine. Also called the "spirit duplicator", this manually-operated copying device used two-ply master sheets. The first sheet was either typed or drawn upon, and the second was coated with a layer of wax, which contained the ink. When the solvent-saturated paper came into contact with the back side of the original, it dissolved just enough of the pigmented wax to print the image onto the paper as it went under the printing drum. Then the waxed copy was used as a "master" to produce about 40 copies of the original. The usual wax color was aniline purple, a cheap, moderately durable pigment that provided proper contrast. "I would go home purple many times," Stafford chuckled, reminiscing about her Ditto days.

They had a nice new black and white copy machine at Central when she started working there, which was cleaner and faster. She made copies of worksheets from books for many years. Now, teachers send electronic files directly from their computers to the full service color copier via the network.

Speaking of computers, there weren't any in the beginning of her tenure, and now every student has his or her own device. For years students went to typewriter and computer "labs" to take typing and word processing classes. Now elementary students learn using an online program called Edutyping, in which they improve their word processing skills one level at a time in a self-paced manner.

Stafford said she has learned to adapt as the tools and methods change. In past years, she did a lot of one-on-one work with students on IEP (Individual Education Plans), and in small groups with students needing targeted services.

The new personalized learning initiative now in its second year at New Rockford-Sheyenne (NR-S) has her interacting with students more, and she spends very little time doing clerical work such as grading papers and making copies. "Kids love it, and they're doing so well," she said of the customized learning curriculum. She added that she sees it as a privilege that she gets to see every elementary student throughout the day. When she is in a classroom, she walks around to gauge student progress and stops to help as needed by any student.

Stafford is also in charge of another new initiative. She and Cherry Heinz lead the Walking Club, now in its third year at NR-S. From 8:00 to 8:25 a.m. each school day, students are invited to come walk in the gym. Music is playing, and the students socialize as they exercise. She said that at least 140 walkers came at least one time last year.

Retirement isn't on her mind right now. "I'm ready to go back to school in July," she said. "It feels like my home."

She said she once asked a colleague who was retiring how she would know when it's time. "When it isn't fun and you don't like going to work, then you know it's time to retire," her colleague told her. "Well, guess what?" quipped Stafford. "I still like my job, and I still want to go to school everyday."