Lessen the chance that you outlive your

Instead of worrying about her own retirement in the last days of the school year, 29-year educator Shauna Maughan was coming up with a virtual fieldtrip to replace the one she had planned to the Natural History Museum of Utah and Red Butte Garden since the response to COVID-19 closed schools and many places around the Salt Lake Valley.

Even though Maughan was coming up with other activities, she was still sad that her first-and second-grade gifted and talented class at McMillan Elementary didn’t get to participate in making cardboard cars for the youngsters’ traditional movie drive-in held annually in the school multipurpose room.

“Some have been creative and instead of making cars, they created a bus, a jeep, even a spaceship,” Maughan said. “It was sad that it just had to end abruptly like this. I had some fun things planned and didn’t get to say goodbye like I usually do.”

Maughan and others at her school who retired had a reverse parade, where families drove by the retirees at the school. She received some sweet notes and small gifts and got elbow bumps instead of hugs.

“I missed the hugs, but it was an end of year with a different look,” she said. “I had said, ‘I’m going out with a bang, but instead it kind of fizzled.”

Many educators had similar exits—a virtual classroom goodbye, a parade, notes dropped at the school, or a sign or a banner.

“I love what I do and having the interaction with children, but this (end of the school

year) wasn’t the same. I wouldn’t want to do it again. I can’t imagine not being here with the kids (in the fall if the pandemic continues),” Maughan said.

Education has changed with the times. There are fewer teddy bear picnics or dinosaur days and instead of relying on teacher experience in the classroom, teaching comes from analyzing student data that’s gathered to better focus on improving students’ academic success, she said.

Her principal, Joy Sanford, also is retiring after 25 years in both Murray and Canyons school districts and was sad that she, too, wasn’t “going to get that last hug I had hoped for.” In fact, Sanford had yet to reach out to students and their families to tell them she was retiring when the school went into “soft closure” that extended through the end of the school year.

Sanford backs Maughan’s assessment on education. When Sanford was an instructional coach, she would research the best practices of instruction and share those with teachers. Now, she’s hoping she will be able to do that as a mentor for principals after retirement.

Sanford also said that there’s more of a social-emotional look at education as “life looks very different than what it did.” While she acknowledges technology brought a lot of changes, she said that it changed the culture of knowledge to students and along with it, “a whole different way to communicate and socialize.”

McMillan Principal Joy Sanford hadn’t yet announced to her student and families that she would be retiring when COVID-19 hit and she realized she wasn’t “going to get that last hug I had hoped for.” (Teresa Bigelow/ McMillan Elementary)

After 29 years as an educator, Shauna Maughan was sad the school year ended abruptly in her classroom without carrying on her year-end traditions one last time before retirement. (Teresa Bigelow/McMillan Elementary)

The social-emotion part of education is something Oakdale Principal Lori Jones pointed out in Canyons District. With years teaching and serving as a counselor, Jones recognizes the power of emphasing positive behavior as a preventative measure.

“When students are focused on being kind, they do things that make a difference in the world,” she said. “It helps the world and it helps them. When they’re mean and bullying, it causes social-emotional problems.”

Students also tend to be greeted by teachers with a time to share and outline the goals for the day.

“Students know what is expected and they’re being recognized and awarded for meeting expectations. They feel good about school and it’s a happy and safe place,” Jones said.

And there’s a change in technology— from film strips to flip grids, from overheads to digital storyboards. Coding is replacing cursive in many classrooms as is a teacher lecture.

“Kids are more engaged in their own learning and doing more partner sharing. Teachers are now the guide and navigating student learning and knowledge,” Jones said.

After 36 years in education, Jones said it’s time to tackle her reading list, look at a memory book that was given to her, and eventually travel once it’s safe to do so.

“It hasn’t been a bad retirement, just a different retirement,” she said.

Jones joined other Canyons principals Christie Webb and Sandra Dahl-Houlihan in saying goodbye to students at a reverse parade at Sandy Elementary, where Webb served her final year.

Webb, who like Jones isn’t one for the spotlight, said she will miss her community of kids and teachers, but has a list of things she’d like to do—starting with sleeping in.

Dahl-Houlihan was principal at Sandy Elementary for several years, but her final year of her 30-year education career was at Bella Vista in Cottonwood Heights. She has several retirement goals: mastering baking with yeast by making cinnamon rolls, reading romance books on her porch and interacting with locals while traveling.

“We didn’t end the year in the usual way,” she said. “Bella Vista always has an egg drop, but this year, we challenged families to do the event. We usually have a field day and the PTA gave directions how to do it together. We usually have an end-of-theyear slide show and a fifth-grade clap-out, and those were done virtually. But I was able to see and thank so many families who came to the parade and tell my faculty 6 feet apart how much I appreciate them, so there was some closure, just not hugs. I’m going to miss the kids, their funny stories, their quirky ways, their jokes and laughter. Kids are the best part of education. It’s where the magic is.” l