The Philomath School District is losing to retirement four teachers that combined have nearly a century of teaching behind them on local campuses.
Among those most notable on the departure list are middle school shop instructor Brian Skaar (25 years), reading support specialist K’Lynn Coleman (19 years) and high school Life Skills teacher Saff Evans (18 years).
Donna Carter (36 years), a high school health occupations teacher, is a fourth long-time educator retiring from full-time teaching but will still be on campus this coming school year on a reduced schedule.
Skaar talked Wednesday morning with excitement about some of the things he has planned.
“My wife is still going to teach another couple of years and I want to be retired while I still have the energy to do stuff,” Skaar said during a talk in his middle school shop classroom. “There’s some long bike rides that I want to take in some areas that I haven’t been able to travel to in the U.S. because the best time to visit them is in the fall … I was always teaching during those times. I want to try some new things.”
Skaar’s wife, Linda, is a middle school math teacher.
Beyond cycling, Skaar also has several other things he’d like to get into with some extra time on his hands.
“I do a lot of lathe work on my own and (I’ll) start doing some shows and craft fair-type things,” he said, adding that he’s also involved as a board volunteer with a couple of woodturning-related organizations. A gig with Athletic Timing, which provides timing services at track and field and cross-country meets, also appears to be in the works.
Ben Silva, middle school science teacher, will be taking over the shop program. Skaar said he will substitute when Silva, who is the PHS girls basketball coach, is away with the team.
Skaar, 61, started teaching in Philomath in 1999 after 12 years in Lincoln City and one year in Corvallis.
“We wanted to move closer to my wife’s family and so I applied here but there were 43 people that applied for one position,” Skaar said. “I was second behind Amanda Anderson, who I would’ve hired ahead of me, too — she was amazing. So I got a job over at Highland View (Middle School in Corvallis) for one year and the fifth-grade position opened up.”
Skaar taught the fifth grade and sixth grades before moving into more specialized assignments in language arts and art. Then he moved into the shop.
“The wood shop program has been so exciting for what we built up,” Skaar said. “This shop originated back when it (the middle school) was built and the local lumber companies put a whole bunch of money into it, so like these tools, those are original and they were the best commercial tools there were.”
Skaar has also been a longtime coach at Philomath Middle School, including basketball, cross-country and track and field. He spent 17 years heading up the school’s cross-country program.
Coleman came on board in 2005
Most of Coleman’s 19 years in the district were spent at Philomath Elementary. Starting in 2005, she was a classroom teacher for at least one year in all grades 2 through 5. She taught reading at PES beginning in 2014 and seven years later taught that same subject at Clemens Primary School. For the past few years, she’s been serving as a RTli (Response to Intervention and Instruction) teacher for the district.
“We test students, see which specific skills they need and teach explicitly toward these skills,” Coleman said. “It is really rewarding to see our kids put early reading skills together, open a book and take off reading.”
In 2018, Coleman took on the role of screening students for dyslexia.
Coleman’s background prior to Philomath included teaching assignments in the Wallowa, Reynolds and Harrisburg school districts. She also spent a year in Senegal, West Africa, at Dakar Academy — a school for the children of missionaries and expatriates. When her husband’s job took them to Spain for two years, she taught in Barcelona at Ben Franklin International School. At the time, she was granted a two-year leave of absence from Philomath.
In all, Coleman has been teaching for 44 years.
“My husband and I are moving to Yachats, where this past year Bill has been helping with building our new home,” she said. “Our immediate plans are to hike the Camino de Santiago in Spain, a 500-mile ancient pilgrimage pathway. We’ll hike seven weeks … 12-15 miles each day through Spanish villages and cities.”
Evans finishes with 18 years in district
Evans said she had to look through paperwork to figure out exactly when she started at Philomath but she narrowed it down to 2006. She had worked in California and West Albany and was at LaCreole Middle School in Dallas when she learned from Special Programs Coordinator Dan Dorman about the opportunity in Philomath.
“I was housed over at the middle school in those two modulars that they have off to the side there,” Evans said about her first years. “That was pretty tough because we’d have to walk our high school kids into the middle school to use the restroom … we ended up having to get our meals from the high school or over at CPS and then bring it back to the modular to eat. It was kind of a mixed bag of stuff, so it was kind of hard.”
Evans worked with middle school, high school and transition program students — the latter being those who are typically in the 18- to 21-year-old range. A dozen or so years ago when caseloads grew too large, job duties were split up.
Evans, 64, may be headed to Wyoming within the next year or two. Her husband, who is a machinist and gunsmith, has a shop in the north-central part of the state.
“He’s been going back and forth and working the shop,” Evans said. “I think the next step is we’re going to settle in for a year and then probably find a place or build a house out there in Wyoming.”
Evans might have an interest in continuing in education after making a move.
“I’m not sure, it depends. I want to check out what the school districts are like out there,” she said. “I’m going to be back (at Philomath) next year … I’m going to help with Unified basketball and hopefully softball again, and I still officiate volleyball.”
Carter reduces role; list of others leaving
Carter, 59, decided to step back from full-time status in the school district because of health and family reasons. So she will continue to teach in the building but at three-quarters time during the 2024-25 academic year. Her primary role will be teaching anatomy and physiology, and health occupations.
Eventually, Carter hopes to then reduce hours further to half-time before easing into full retirement. She has been working in the local school district since 1988-89.
Beth Ashbenbrenner (high school Spanish) and Corinne DeAngelis (high school math) are other teachers leaving the district. Also departing are Amanda Bauer (high school administrative assistant in athletics and activities), Laura Coen (elementary school instructional assistant), Jessica Dahl (elementary school lunch/recess assistant) and Ashley Folgate (library media specialist).
