When it comes to teaching, Donna Carter and Steve Bennett have never had another employer.
Carter arrived first, in the fall of 1988, straight out of Western Oregon State College and looking for the kind of small town where she could raise a family. Bennett showed up three years later, in 1991, still a student at Oregon State University, after a college counselor asked him to pick between two open coaching jobs — Corvallis or Philomath. He joined the PHS classroom faculty two years after that in the fall of 1993.
Neither ever left.
This spring, both retired — Carter after 38 years teaching math, health, health occupations and personal finance, and Bennett after 33 years teaching physical education and health. Between them, that’s 71 years in front of Philomath students.
Bennett’s hiring is the kind of story that sounds impossible now. He’d finished playing football at Oregon State and asked a counselor if he knew of any coaching openings.
“Yeah, I know coaches at Corvallis and Philomath,” the counselor told him. “Which one do you want?” Bennett said it didn’t matter, so the counselor called Philomath athletic director Woody Bennett, who told him to come out and then sent him straight to the district office to get hired. He coached junior varsity football and helped with JV boys basketball for two years before joining the faculty in 1993. He moved up to defensive coordinator and then took over as head football coach in 1994.
Carter’s path was less serendipitous but no less immediate — she came out of college certified in both math and health and taught both subjects for years before narrowing her focus to health roughly 15 years ago. Anatomy, physiology and the health occupations program — designed for students headed into medical careers — became her specialty.
She also spent years teaching personal finance to seniors, a class she pushed to keep on the schedule after it lost its state graduation requirement.
“I fought for it to remain at Philomath, and we kept it when a lot of other schools cut it,” she said.
It’s now becoming a state requirement again starting next year.
Both teachers spent their careers building programs well beyond their classrooms. Bennett founded the Philomath Legends Club in 2011 after realizing, as athletic director, how many people had given decades to the school with little public recognition.
What started as a two-minute tribute during a basketball game’s quarter break has grown into an ongoing effort to thank community members and tell their stories. He also participated in the launching the Philomath High School Hall of Fame, an idea developed by the late Gary Cox, and has emceed the induction ceremony since it began. Both commitments will continue after retirement, along with the hallway Hall of Fame displays honoring PHS athletes.
Bennett also helped design the Summer Bridge Program for incoming freshmen when state funding became available in 2020, building on earlier work with Link Crew, a national high school transition program. The program struggled to draw students in its early years but more recently it’s had waiting lists.
“It’s always been a passion of mine to just try to connect kids to successful activities and connection into high school,” he said. “I really believe almost every kid can find a way to connect. We offer a ton of stuff. We have really good academics. We have really good activities. Obviously, really good athletics. So kids can find a way to connect and find a way to be relevant, not just do it.”
Carter’s biggest institutional work came through the teachers union, where she served as president, vice president, treasurer and building representative over the years. She described a knack for translating between people on opposite sides of a dispute during bargaining sessions.
“Working in the union mattered a lot to me. I wanted to fight for teacher rights,” Carter said. “I was able to like really smooth the way and make some things happen between staff and admin, or at the district level, if we were bargaining … and so I felt like I was really good at that, and I felt like that was important.”
Carter also rebuilt the health occupations program’s enrollment after COVID-19 gutted it — down to as few as three students in one section. She kept the class alive during remote learning by providing students with baggies that included things like a blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, tongue depressor and mini flashlight so they could practice basic exams on family members from home.
Bringing numbers back up required convincing local healthcare facilities, which had shut their doors to visitors during the pandemic, to let high school students back in for job shadows and clinical hours. She credited Katie Jensen, a hospital coordinator for student services and former teacher, with helping reopen those doors.
Carter officially retired in 2024 but stayed on part time for two more years, dropping from three-quarters time to half time before fully stepping away this year. She said the transition was partly financial and partly physical.
“Some physical health energy level things just weren’t quite what they used to be,” she said. “I’m 61, and I’m tired by the end of the day, like even on a day where everything goes well and nothing went wrong.”
Those extra funds on top of retirement income have gone toward a long-deferred home renovation — replacing pet-stained, threadbare carpet she inherited when she bought her house in 2009. Amber Vaughn, a former PHS math teacher who left the classroom to work full time as a contractor, is doing the work.
Bennett, 56, said he’s stepping back to focus on his health and family.
“I love teaching, but you know, 33 years is a long time … and I think it was because I’m still young enough to try to do some other things and focus on my health and myself for a while, my family and friends,” he said. “So, I had the luxury that I could.”
Asked to reflect on their decades in the district, both teachers pointed past themselves to the town.
“The support of Philomath schools, the volunteerism, what people pour into it — that’s what makes Philomath stand out,” Bennett said, pointing to the district’s academic rankings and graduation rates relative to its size. “It is the commitment by the community that allows teachers to do great things and kids to do great things.”
Carter echoed the sentiment, describing colleagues who invested in students well beyond academics. She pointed to a phrase she’s heard around the district over the years: “As teachers, we are buyers, not renters.”
“We’re committed, and we’re in it for the long haul, and we care about kids and we care about the community,” she said.
Bennett and Carter weren’t the only longtime employees to leave the Philomath School District after the 2025-26 school year.
Don Meeker, who taught music at Philomath Elementary School for nine years, retired after 43 years in education spanning several Oregon and Southern Oregon districts. He kept the school’s before-school Falcon Singers group going for third- through fifth-graders and started a lunch recorder group and fifth-grade band. His first and last spring concerts in Philomath were both Beatles-themed.
Kim St. Clair, a Philomath High School counselor for 17 years, graduated from PHS herself in 1977 and returned to the district after stints as a substitute teacher and a counselor at Scio High School. She coached the PHS cheer team for a stretch and has taught driver’s education.
Four longtime instructional assistants also retired — Glenda Bush, who spent six years with the district after previous work at Kings Valley Charter School and in the Corvallis School District; Mary Callender, who spent 4-1/2 years at PHS after a career as senior director of operations for NIRSA, the college recreation association; D’ette Hendrix, a 26-year Philomath employee who most recently worked with the elementary school’s RTI program; and Sally Hockema, a PHS graduate who worked 16 years across Philomath Elementary and Philomath High School and also taught driver’s education.
Teachers and staff resigning after this past school year include:
- Clemens Primary School — Hailey Van Essen (teacher).
- Philomath Elementary School — Emily Pivic (instructional assistant) and Berakah Simpkins (instructional assistant.
- Philomath Middle School — Malori Ambrose (teacher).
- Philomath High School — Anna Ayres (instructional assistant), Kate Blackwelder (speech language pathologist), Shelly Brown (teacher), Kori Haley (youth transition specialist), Nora Smith (instructional assistant), Amber Vaughn (teacher) and Shelly Wood (attendance clerk).
- Philomath Academy — Phillip Ayer (teacher).
