DANVILLE — Rebecca Anderson was busy in late 2006. She got married, bought a house, moved across the coun-try from the Washington, D.C., area and started a new job.

The Danville High School chemistry teacher’s transition was made easier by her mentor, Shelley Barker, a biology and pre-engineering teacher at DHS.

Mentoring relationships like theirs will be key to retaining new teachers in the coming years as Danville District 118 prepares for more than 80 educators to retire by spring 2009.

Anderson moved to east-central Illinois because her husband is a graduate student at the University of Illinois. She began scouting the area for jobs, and thought the position in Danville was ideal.



Other openings would have required her to teach subjects besides her favorite, chemistry.

“I don’t like teaching biology,” she said.

What she does like is Danville.

“It’s definitely smaller. (Before) I had some kids who weren’t as motivated, but I’ve got some kids (this year) with some really high expectations — which I really like,” she said.

Anderson enjoys other aspects of DHS faculty life, as well. She enjoys the class schedule, which has eight periods, rather than a block schedule like at her old school.

She can keep lesson plans more easily balanced when she sees her students every day.

She also appreciates a higher level of parent involvement than at her old school. Both students and parents are friendly, she said.

The day she interviewed, she noticed all the kids who addressed teachers and the principal did so with respect.

“It’s a lot less hectic,” she added.

Before she could learn all the good parts of her new school, she had to get her classroom set up and learn how to get by day to day.

That’s where Barker stepped in.

“She came in on her own free time to help me out. She showed me everything. She’s there for every question I ask,” she said.

‘Something great’

Barker has been teaching for 19 years and will retire next year. She taught at other county schools, but calls Danville her “top pick.”

“It was my dream job, and I feel very blessed,” she said.

Anderson said some kids are already a little sad knowing they won’t get to have Barker for biology or engineering.

She will miss them, too.

Barker is the kind of teacher who easily tears up at the end of every school year because she’s watched her students come so far.

Next year will be even harder.

“I’ll be in tears a lot because I’ll miss the students. … I love being with them,” she said.

Barker will miss the entire building because she said the staff functions like a family. Not every district has what Danville has, she added.

“We’ve got something great here. The kids are nice. They’re great — this is perfect. This is an ex-ceptional staff. It’s like a family — very positive. …. And the kids pick up on that,” she said.

Barker has every confidence the atmosphere at the high school — continued by teachers like Anderson — will go on, and the district will grow and change, as well.

Danville inspires Barker to work past her normal hours.

“It never leaves you,” she said of teaching.

She continually thinks of ways to improve her class curriculum and teaching methods.

“To me, (teaching) is a ministry,” she said.

A lasting impression

Anderson’s first impressions of Danville weren’t the best, she admits.

“It was a little rundown,” she said.

The 28-year-old Boise, Idaho, native said Vermilion County is “out in the middle of nowhere,” but the town and its people are growing on her.

In the seven months she’s been here, she has noticed a sense of pride in Danville that inspires her.

“The people here make Danville,” she said. “They’re very excited about Danville. It’s a big part of them.”

Her fellow teachers are also supportive and caring.

“I love the support here,” she said.

Any time she has a question about a student or needs help in any way, the support system always helps.

“I love the old building. This place has a lot of character. I feel completely welcome — like I can sit back and relax,” she said.

Anderson’s salary is a little less than at her old district, but she knows Danville is a different mar-ket.

Many of her chemistry friends from Brigham Young University ended up in Champaign, where she lives, so she has a social network already built into her new home.

Anderson said she wouldn’t be enticed by sign-on bonuses in places like California. The Los Angeles public school district recently posted a flier on its Web site that boasted up to $15,000 in teacher sign-on bonuses.

“I don’t think that could entice me,” she said.

THREE-DAY SERIES

-- On Sunday: Danville District 118 prepares to cope with more than 80 educators retiring in the next three years, as locals stay in and around their hometowns to teach.

-- On Monday: New-to-Danville teachers find they way, as East Park Elementary School newcomers and veterans band together.