June 12, 2008

Longtime Almaden teacher retires

Sue Gutierrez to step down after 36 years

By Carol Rosen
Editor

On Friday, June 6, a large party of at least 150 people gathered at Carabelle Park to say goodbye and to honor Graystone kindergarten teacher Sue Gutierrez.

Jim Kuneen presents Graystone Elementary kindergarten teacher Sue Gutierrez with a numbered and signed State Senate Resolution at a party in honor of her retirement on June 6 at Carabelle Park. At least 150 people came to honor the teacher, who taught two generations of Almaden students. Gutierrez taught at Graystone for 32 years, with most of them teaching kindergarten students.

It was obvious that the party was a mutual admiration society. It wasn’t just that her students loved her but that she loved teaching and her students, because she found “every day so rewarding coming here.”

Gutierrez, who spent a total of 36 years teaching in San Jose Unified, spent the past 32 at Graystone. During her first five years she taught third and fourth grade with kindergartners benefiting from her final 27 years. In this year’s class she had a number of second-generation students as well as the granddaughter of a former Graystone teacher.

“Lately, I’ve been teaching the kids of my kids, and I figured it was time to leave before I started teaching the third generation,” she told the Times.

Gutierrez has many fond memories, especially of pageants celebrating the Christmas holidays, Mother’s Day and graduation. “It was fun to see the child-parent connection at the holidays when they recognized each other and the pride on both sides of the student’s accomplishments. Graduation was special too because it showed the pride and growth the children had obtained over the year,” she said.

One of the hardest things came at the end of the year when Gutierrez took her students to see what a first-grade classroom was like. “They were surprised, even though I had prepared them, that the room was smaller and there was no bathroom. But they were amazed at how quiet the first graders are and interested in what they were learning.”

Things have changed over the years, she noted, although some of the best examples remain. The best of all is the children’s enthusiasm, she said. Followed, in no particular order by their open mindedness, their minds like empty sponges soaking up all the knowledge they can and their ability to have fun.

The change has come in academics. When she first started teaching kindergarten, students played most of the time. Now the class is mostly academics. “We make it fun so they don’t feel that they are doing academics, but I miss doing some of the things we used to do. We don’t have time to do those things anymore, they have been replaced with academics, and we can’t do everything.”

The hardest thing about teaching now is the lack of funding. “We just don’t have the money to do things we used to do, but we do have abundant parental support. That’s been a constant, helping in the classroom, organizing parties and birthdays. There’s parents in my classroom every day teaching music, computers, roots and wings [self-esteem], art and PE.”

It’s not just mothers either. There are fathers and grandfathers helping out too.

Gutierrez always wanted to be a teacher; she’s always liked being around children. So it made sense that her education, at the College of San Mateo and San Jose State University, was about teaching. She started right after graduation, spending her first five years at Anne Darling Elementary teaching second, third and fourth grades.

One of her mentors was Doris Dillon. The Almaden educator had a “big influence on me. I bonded with her immediately,” Gutierrez said.

One of the happiest moments in her career occurred when Graystone won the distinguished school award and even more so in 2001 when the school was declared a Blue Ribbon School. That was one of the highlights, she said, when she went to Washington, D.C. when the school was presented its Blue Ribbon award.

She had planned on having a small open house before leaving school for the last time, but that option was taken away from her as friends, and especially Betty Newkirk, planned the party at Carabelle Park. “All of the invitations were E-vites. Some people were invited and then passed invitations on to others and there were at least 150 people at the park including parents and children and lots that I hadn’t seen for a long time.”

Among the special gifts were a framed picture that everyone signed, a T-shirt that everyone signed and a photo album put together by Donna Miller, parent of Tyler Miller a student of Gutierrez’s last year. Miller had found photos of former students at their kindergarten graduation and paired them with photos of those students today. “It was a huge photo album,” Gutierrez said, and something she always will treasure.

Among the gifts was a proclamation from the State Senate with her entire life history, presented to her from Jim Kuneen, whose two children were her students. “It is signed and numbered. I didn’t know it was coming. It’s very special and will hang in my house forever and ever,” she added.

So far, Gutierrez hasn’t made any major retirement plans, just to “read, hang out with friends and go to the beach.” She also plans to visit her second home in Grass Valley, as well as possible travel in the future, but she’s waiting until the prices fall.