Newton Baker served three years in the Peace Corps and has taught at Union, Main Street Middle School and the old Barre Street school for a combined 35 years
Terrific trio
Three retiring Union School teachers praised for their work
June 8, 2005
By Sky Barsch Times Argus Staff
MONTPELIER – Union Elementary School just won't be the same next year.
With the final bell on Friday, three long-term teachers will say goodbye to their last day of class and their last class of students, and then head into retirement.
"All three of them are exceptional teachers, and so much of what they do is part of what Union is," Principal Sue Boyer said of Newton Baker, Elizabeth Sabens and Bev Keck. "They're kind of taking a little bit of Union away with them when they retire."
Baker, Sabens and Keck have a combined 81 years in the Montpelier public schools. In that time, Keck has worked under five principals, Sabens has taught four different grade levels, and Baker has created many writing projects.
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Baker, who was born in Brattleboro and served three years in the Peace Corps, has taught at Union, Main Street Middle School and the old Barre Street school for a combined 35 years. His father was a teacher, influencing Baker and four of his six siblings to follow in his profession.
"It's something I wanted to do. I like kids, I like learning," Baker said. "Once I started, that's where I stayed. I'm not interested in administration."
Baker, whom many know as an avid marathoner and runner, has also been a leader in getting children to write, from his "hubcap poetry" to creating booklets filled with student poetry which his classes hand out to the tourists who descend on the capital city.
The hubcap poetry is meant to inspire students to write verse about even ordinary things, and students use brightly painted hubcaps as props when they recite poetry for audiences.
Of his many favorite memories from teaching for so long, Baker recalls his one-year stint at then Middlesex Village School – the a grades five-through-eight school. There he was assigned to teach gym because he was the only one of four teachers who was athletic (today, at 63, he's ranked number nine in the country for his ultra long-distance running ability).
"Early on, I remember they said, 'you're the gym teacher,' and I said, 'what equipment do we have?' They said 'a basketball,' but we didn't have a basket."
So Baker got his hands on a soccer ball, and he and the kids constructed goal posts. The kids were so into soccer, they went out in the winter, and packed down the snow so they could play. When the fifth-grade boys stole the ball, the eighth-graders held a trial, he said.
"It was sort of hands-on education, created as you go, for lack of money and resources," he said. "The kids were great and that taught me a lot about (how) you can create and make-do with the stuff you have and the kids get so involved."
"It's going to take us a long time to replace his influence," Principal Boyer said.
Baker wants to stay involved in promoting writing programs in schools.
