Dexter, Missouri – Each year a Retirement Tea is held at the Bearcat Event Center for retiring teachers at the Dexter Public Schools. Six well seasoned educators with 158 years in the field of education will leave the halls of Dexter and enjoy the life of retirement.
Andrea Backfisch will retire with 23 years in the classroom and is a first and second grade resource teacher at Southwest Elementary. She first served for a two-year period as a remedial reading aide at Central School, and in August 1992, she began teaching first grade at Southwest. Six years ago, she moved to a resource classroom. Her entire teaching career has been spent in the position of first grade teacher at Southwest.
Anita Joyner received her teaching certificate in July of 1984 and began her career in January of 1985 as a Title 1 Remedial Reading aide at Southwest Elementary. She accepted an elementary fifth grade teaching position at Desloge, Missouri for the 1985-1986 school year and remained there until returning to Dexter Schools in January 1988 to fill a vacancy as a Middle School Math teacher. She has served in that position since that time and retires with 28 district years and 30 career years of service to education. Joyner was also selected the Dexter Chamber of Commerce 2014 Educator of the Year.
Julie Garner was employed by Dexter Schools in January of 1994 and will retire with 22 years of service to Dexter. She was hired to complete the remainder of the 1993-1994 school year teaching Special Education at Southwest Elementary. The following year, Early Childhood Special Education was implemented and she has served as a teacher of that program since that time. This successful program has benefitted many students as a result of her dedication to the special needs of special children within the local school district.
Paula Jarrell will retire with 22 years of service to Dexter School District. She was employed in August 1993 as a Learning Disabilities teacher in the Special Education Department of Dexter Schools. During her first five years of employment, her time was split between Southwest and Central Elementary, but in 1998-1999, she was reassigned exclusively to Southwest.
Sherry Dukes taught Special Education at Bloomfield for two years before coming to Dexter Schools in August 1987 as a special education teacher at Dexter High School. She has continued to provide educational services for special needs students at Dexter High School for the past 28 years. Dedication to her career and empathy for her students lends credence to the term "Special" education teacher. She retires with 30 career years of teaching experience.
In addition to the certified staff members retiring, support staff member Gale Simmering will be stepping down.
Gale Simmering was employed in August 2006 as an elementary library aide. She worked in collaboration with the elementary librarian whose day was split between Southwest and Central. She has served in that position for nine years and will retire at the end of the school year.
Shown in the photo from left to right are: Andrea Backfisch, Anita Joyner, Julie Garner, Paula Jarrell, Sherry Dukes, and Gale Simmering. Not present was Central Elementary retiring principal Cindy Bowman.
