Teachers began careers together 39 years ago
– and retire together
Gilroy – Patti Littlejohn and Roberta Bertero spent their career sharing books, curriculum, ideas, even a classroom. Thirty-nine years ago and fresh out of college, the two landed what ended up being both their first and final gig, as teachers at El Roble Elementary School.
For the past 21 years they team-taught kindergarten, with Bertero in charge of the morning shift and Littlejohn handling the afternoon class. And, together, they’ve outlasted five principals.
That’s why it didn’t take long for Bertero to change her mind about retiring after Littlejohn announced her intentions to do so.
“She said ‘We came in together, we should go out together,'” Littlejohn said.
For Dana Reimer, the duo’s retirement couldn’t have come at a better time. The mother of two had heard that her son’s kindergarten teacher whom she calls “with a capital A, amazing,” planned to retire last year, which would have caused her daughter to miss out on having Littlejohn.
Instead, Littlejohn finished the year out and Reimer happily enrolled her daughter.
“She just has natural talent (as a teacher),” Reimer said. “She makes each child feel special and loved, and not just as a student, but as part of the family.”
In 1967, Bertero and Littlejohn set up camp on El Roble’s campus the year the brand-new school opened for business. With its carpeted classrooms – other schools had linoleum – and west side location the institution was quickly labeled Gilroy’s golden institution.
Teachers from other sites even used to joke enviously, “well you’re at the carpeted school.” And Bertero and Littlejohn remember being excited to earn an annual $6,000 paycheck. But the changes El Roble, and education in general, underwent since Bertero and Littlejohn came on board, consist of much more than floor coverings and teacher salaries.
“The family unit has changed and the pace of life,” Littlejohn said. “So coming to school is really something they (the kids) can count on.”
With expensive houses quickly popping up on the south side of town, the neighborhood surrounding El Roble lost its tight grasp on Gilroy’s wealthy families, causing a dramatic increase in the number of English language learners and Spanish-speaking parents.
For a while, before the district switched back to neighborhood schools, children were bussed from the predominantly Hispanic east side, to El Roble. Those alterations in the make-up of their school, meant Littlejohn and Bertero had to adapt.
Back in the day, few, if any, of their kindergartners spoke primarily Spanish. This year, at least eight were learning English. To roll with the changes, the teachers beefed up their lifetime credentials by completing newly required courses to help teach English language learners, adjusting their curriculum to abide by the new state standards and becoming familiar with all the tenets of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Recently, they staged English classes for parents, knowing it will help not only the adults but the students as well, and we’re amazed one mother had never learned that every letter of the alphabet makes a specific sound.
“And I think, probably, our legacy is we’ve worked really hard as a team, as partners, communicating with parents and their kids,” Littlejohn said.
Teaching through the Years
While Bertero and Littlejohn agree that some of the tweaks in the education system are positive, they’re not sure about the emphasis on first-grade curriculum in kindergarten.
“It used to be totally fundamental, but now it’s totally academic,” Bertero said.
Kindergarten has certainly undergone some changes over the years – naps aren’t exactly en vogue these days, full-day kinder is becoming the norm and tougher academics have replaced the ABCs. When Bertero and Littlejohn started out, kindergarten curriculum didn’t exist in California.
But through it all one element hasn’t budged: few forget the cheerful teachers who taught them the basics, always with a smile. That definitely bodes well for this teaching pair. The longtime educators have watched a bevy of students stream through the classroom during their long tenure.
And while they’re often contacted or visited by former students, Bertero and Littlejohn are still surprised to discover invitations tucked into the mail, inviting the teachers to college graduations or hearing how much of a difference they made in a child’s life.
“Teaching has given us a lot,” Littlejohn said. “You never know how you’ve touched someone.”
Last week when they were crowned as queens at their school retirement ceremony, numerous children headed to the front to say thank you to their kindergarten teachers.
“Even the big boys, they came up and hugged us,” Bertero.
Last week, the two teachers locked up their El Roble classroom, but neither closed the door on education for good. To these dedicated educators, teaching was more than a job and they don’t intend to say good-bye.
Bertero will teach summer school at Glen View Elementary beginning Monday and plans to sub throughout the year – but only at El Roble. Littlejohn will head to St. Mary School, her alma mater, in the fall to teach.
