New Teacher for Decatur Island School

Our little island school does an incredible job educating the children who are fortunate to live here. In the 30 plus years that I’ve been here, we’ve had four wonderful teachers, who’ve each brought their own brand of wisdom, special skill set and energy to our school, in addition to teaching the 3 Rs.

Karen Lamb or “Teach” as she was known, imparted a strong value of “being kind to one another” and loved to share her knowledge of geography, literature, creative writing, drama and crafts. After 32 years, Karen retired and was followed by Kelly Fisher “Miss Kelly”, who had expansive knowledge in biology and the marine environment. She stressed to the children the importance of caring for our beaches and the critters to be found there. She also brought technology to the school at a new level and had the children making videos and computer presentations.

When Kelly moved on after six years, Joanne Wester-Colman came to the school. Joanne had a long history of teaching in one-room schools and had developed some great connections with the other similar schools in the islands. Through her network of fellow teachers, the children met students from Shaw Island and shared in field trips and music events with them. She helped the students build a garden, start a library, do fund-raising events like “restaurant night” and learn how to manage a budget. She also exposed them to robotics and new technology.

This past year, we had our first male teacher, Gord Whitaker. Gord’s background was in athletics and the children were very physically active under his tutelage. New playground games were introduced and skills nurtured. A  great outlet for the children coping with the stresses brought on by the Covid pandemic!

2021 is welcoming a new teacher, Chelsea Campbell, who brings with her an extensive background teaching children of all ages in theater and the arts. Eight students from K-6 will  be keeping her busy and she seems to have the energy and enthusiasm to do a wonderful job. Our school and it’s children are an integral part of our community. Each one of the students feels the love from all of us, who see only the best in each of them and value and support the teacher who nourishes their potential to the fullest.  Her bulletin above gives us a hint at who Chelsea is and it will be exciting to share in this new journey with her!