Published: September 08, 2009 02:23 pm      

Ada City Schools welcome new teachers

Ada — With a large crew of new teachers, Washington Grade Center leads the way in new faces in The System. Ada City Schools welcomes 21 new teachers and nine will be greeting the students at the third and fourth grade center.

Four are slated for assignments with the 4th grade. They are Darci Reeves, Kim Paul, Amy Fetters and Charle Anderson.

The five 3rd grade teachers are Bessie Eddy, Megan Curry, Amity Apsey, Tatum Burris and Maria Ruiz-Blanco.

The 4th grade teachers are a mixture of teaching experience.

Anderson is a 1996 AHS grad with a BS in 2004 and a masters in 2009 from ECU.

She taught four years at Ravia, 2004-08, and has one child, Rhyle Sutton, 9, 4th grade.

Reeves, a 2000 grad of Medford, received her BS in elementary education from Oklahoma State in 2006. She has four years of elementary - physical education in the northwestern part of the state and one year in special ed at Vanoss.

Reeves and husband Seth have a baby, Cal.

Though she is a first-year teacher, Paul has been in the nursing and counseling professions. Paul received her masters in education from ECU in 2009. She is a 1984 graduate of Byng.

Paul and husband Tommy Paul have six children. They are Kami, 22; Clint, 21; Kasi, 17; and Chase, 16, (Bowker); and Eli, 11; and Scotty, 9 (Paul).

Fetters is a 2003 AHS grad and received her BS from ECU in 2007.

She taught at Konawa last year with classes in 4th grade reading and 4th and 5th grade reading/math lab and 6th and 8th reading.

Fetters is married to Corey Fetters.

The new 3rd grade teachers at Washington range from veterans like Eddy and Ruiz-Blanco to relative newcomers in Curry, Burris and Apsey.

Eddy heads the cast with 21 years in the profession. Her varied stops range from local Tupelo (5 1/2) and Allen (1 1/2) and the Chickasaw Nation (2) to Stilwell (6), Alamo Navajo Reservation (3) and Santa Fe South Charter School (2).

After graduating from Stonewall in 1977, Eddy received her BS in 1982 and masters in 1989 from ECU.

She is married to Ronald Eddy and has two adult children, Michael Stinnett and Christopher Stinnett.

Ruiz-Blanco is from Spain. She graduated from Arturo Soria in 1989. She received her BS and masters from Pontificia Comillas University in Spain in 1994.

Her teaching career has been entirely in Chicago. She taught 1st in 1998 at Blaine School; 3rd 1999-01 at Hayt School and 2nd and 3rd 2001-06 at Belmont-Crogin School.

Ruiz-Blanco is married to Steve Benton. They have three children, Emilio Ruiz Benton, 3 1/2; Pablo Ruiz Benton, 1 1/2; and Nina Ruiz Benton, 1 1/2.

Curry is a 2005 Ada High grad who received her BS from ECU in 2008.

She is a first-year teacher who was a student teacher at Hayes Grade Center.

Burris is also a first-year teacher. A 2004 Newcastle grad, she received her BS from ECU in 2008. Her fiance is Brandon Sallee.

A homeschooled grad of 1996, Amity Aspey received her BS from ECU in 2004.

She has two years of experience teaching reading, English and social studies at Wynnewood Middle School.

Her husband is Chris Aspey and they have two children, Emilee, 6, kindergarten; and Connor, 4 months.





Meanwhile at Glenwood Early Childhood Center, veteran educator Lisa Waggoner will teach kindergarten and Laura Presley takes on the role of OPAT (Oklahoma Parents as Teachers) educator.

After graduating high school in California in 1978, Waggoner taught at several schools for six years in California and a year at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Back in California, she then taught 6th grade for a year and six years of 7th grade pre-algebra.

She spent one year as an aide at Glenwood.

She received a BA in liberal studies in 1983 and a teaching credential (K-8) from Cal State - Sacramento.

Waggoner and husband Mark have four adult children, Caleb, Bethany, Sarah and Hannah.

Presley, a 2004 Ada High grad, spent two and one-half years as a social worker at the Seminole Nation Headstart.

She received a BA from St. Gregory’s in Shawnee in social science. She is married to Randy Presley and they have one child, Piper, four months.

Hayes Grade Center’s first and second graders will have three new teachers - Amanda Johns and Kimberlie Hardy in first grade and Pam Floyd with first and second grade special education.

Floyd is the veteran of the group with 15 years of experience; Hardy has taught second grade at Edmond Oakdale and first at Sulphur while Johns is a fledgling first-year teacher.

Floyd taught 6th and 8th grade at Plainview Middle School for four years and 4th grade at Plainview Elementary for four years. She also taught 4th at Gunter Elementary for six years and was special ed director at Gunter High for one year.

A 1967 Vamoosa High grad, she received her BS in education from ECU in 1994, followed by a masters from that institution in 1996.

Floyd has two grown children, Steven Floyd of Ada, and Chuck Floyd of Norman.

Hardy is a 1986 Tishomingo graduate with a BS from Southeastern State in 1991.

She has two children, Dace Carlson, 10, 5th grade at Sulphur, and Haze Carlson, 13, 8th grade, also at Sulphur.

Her fiance is Lee Mann.

Johns graduated from Latta in 1997 and received her BS from ECU in 2006 and her masters in school counseling in 2008.

Johns and husband Michael Johns have two children, Kamryn Johns, 3; and Kyler Johns, 4 months.