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Wednesday, Jun. 03, 2009

Longtime educators bid fond farewell at two Houston schools

WARNER ROBINS — A pair of long-time Houston County educators spent their last day with students Friday.

Melanie Loggins of Lake Joy Primary and Harold Sapp of Hilltop Elementary closed out their careers with feelings of joy tinged with sadness.

Loggins remembered her first day of teaching 30 years ago at Perry Elementary School. She wasn’t there.

“I had spent weeks preparing the second-grade classroom but the morning of the first day of school I was so sick I couldn’t lift my head off the pillow,” she said Friday. “They had to use a substitute. And on the first day!”

It was probably fitting that on Friday, her last day with students, she would wake up with a migraine headache. But she wasn’t about to miss work this time, and so she once more took her post at the Lake Joy hallway crossroads, greeting students by name and hugging them as they came to school.

“Good morning, Mrs. Loggins!” was heard many times, and some students stopped to drop off either a bag containing a gift or a card. In one case, it was a poem written by students Savannah and Zachary Thomas, thanking Loggins for being their principal.

“I know it’s the last day of school, but you still have to walk,” Loggins called out to a pair of speeding students who dutifully slowed down.

Then, gathering up the gifts and envelopes after the bell rang, she went to her office for the morning announcements.

Students Jacob and Anita, who assisted students and teachers in the morning, were reminded to come by the office and get their “Helping Hand” charm; students were reminded to keep a log of their reading during the summer so they could qualify for prizes the next school year; students who brought in tabs from soft drink cans were thanked; the Pledge of Allegiance was recited, followed by a moment of silence; students were reminded to be a polite audience for performers at the school’s extravaganza to mark the end of the year; club sponsors were thanked; and one last thought: “I know it’s not football season yet, but Go Dawgs! Sic ’em! Woof, woof, woof!”

“That last one was a special request,” she said with a laugh.

At Hilltop, Sapp was starting to clean out his office early Friday afternoon.

He said the decision to retire after 38 years was cemented during Christmas break, even though he still loves the job.

“Hopefully you can know when it’s your time to leave, time for the next generation to take over,” he said. “It’s my time.”

Sapp began his career in 1971 at Baker Academy in Hawkinsville as a teacher and coach, and has been in Houston County for 28 years.

“I’ve raised most people’s children, and now I want to stay and help raise my grandchildren,” he said. Sapp has six brothers and sisters, he said, and wants to catch up with the family.

The students have known he was leaving, he said, and he’s introduced incoming principal Ed Mashburn to them already.

“They ask me why I’m leaving, and I tell them it’s because I’m old,” he said with a laugh.

Loggins and Sapp agreed that one of the biggest changes they’ve seen in education in their careers is accountability being placed in the forefront.

“We’re doing more and doing better than before,” Loggins said. “The No Child Left Behind Act is responsible. Most of it is good for the schools, but not all of it.”

“We’ve gone from teaching the subject to teaching the student,” Sapp said.

“In the old days, a student would just fail and take the same grade all over again. Today, we have more strategies for re-teaching the student.”

Both said children today are the same and at the same time very different.

“The children still want to know you care before they care about what you know,” Loggins said. “The technology they’re familiar with is sophisticated, but they’re still children.”

“Of course, there were no video games or cell phones when I started, and today with access to the Internet it’s more of a challenge to teachers to get them involved,” Sapp said. “But all children when they start school want to do the best they can. Learning and being happy — that’s not changed.”

In the end, they both said, they will miss the school staff and the children.

“I try not to think about it, put off thinking about it,” Loggins said. “My mother named me for Melanie Wilkes in ‘Gone With The Wind,’ but I’m really more like Scarlett in that I’ll think about it another day.”

“In 28 years here I’ve worked with great people and lots of great students,” Sapp said, “and I’ve seen some of them grow up to be teachers and administrators. These 28 years have been a joy.”

To contact writer Jake Jacobs, call 923-6199, extension 305.