For all Sue Richey, a second-grade teacher at Coyote Trail Elementary School, knew, it was just another annual meeting with the Marana district superintendent, who would give a presentation and hand out anniversary pins to teachers.
When Superintendent Doug Wilson called out her name, like he did others’, Richey was met with a pleasant surprise. A band of Marana school board members ambushed the staff meeting Tuesday at the school’s library to celebrate her long career.
Richey is the first teacher in the Marana Unified School District to celebrate 40 years of teaching in the northwest-side district.
She was given a surprise cake, vase of flowers and a gift certificate from MUSD’s 2340 Foundation, a nonprofit serving teachers and students in the district, while the room filled with dozens of her colleagues gave her a standing ovation.
“I think she is a good example of putting kids first and embracing all the changes,” Dan Johnson, the school’s principal, said of Richey.
Johnson and Richey are the only two left of the original staff that have been at Coyote Trail, 8000 N. Silverbell Road, since it opened its doors 19 years ago, he said.
Over the years, he said he has seen many teachers come and go, but Richey stayed, always maintaining the high-level energy of a new teacher but having the wisdom of an experienced teacher at the same time.
“She’s the best of both worlds,” he said.
When Richey was first hired in the district, she taught at Marana Elementary, which is now called Marjorie W. Estes Elementary. In 1982, she was transferred to Thornydale Elementary, where she spent 21 years teaching first-, second- and fourth-graders.
At Coyote Trail, she has taught second-graders exclusively. She has also been running an after-school exercise program called the Coyote Trail Milers’ Club for 12 years.
A third-generation teacher, Richey said she always thought she’d teach for a long time. The job allows her to be creative in interacting with the children she teaches and adapting to the changing nature of classrooms and curriculums.
“Any time the pendulum of education swings, we have to change and adapt,” she said.
In the end, Richey said she just loves her job.
“My life is like Disneyland,” she said. It’s about tooth fairies, leprechauns and magic with second-graders. There are rough days that require more patience too, she said, but keeping a happy attitude has allowed her to love teaching for so long.
At 61 years old, she said she is thinking of retiring in a couple of years. Her husband wants her to, she said. Although she said she is definitely not aiming for 45 years, she might get bored without teaching.
“I’m going to need a serious hobby,” she said.
