Phoenix, AZ - Sunrise Elementary School reading specialist Cindy White is retiring after 46 years of teaching generations of Arizona students in the Deer Valley School District. White completed her teaching degree at ASU while raising three children and has spent her entire career teaching multiple generations of local students. Among her former students is Gary Zehrbach, who now serves as the school district's deputy superintendent of administration. Celebration and support for White at her retirement.
Sunrise Elementary School reading specialist Cindy White is retiring after 46 years of teaching generations of Arizona students in the Deer Valley School District . FOX 10's Irene Snyder learns more about her impact on students, and what she plans to do next.
One Valley teacher is retiring from Sunrise Elementary School after a 46-year career as a reading specialist. Cindy White completed her teaching degree at ASU while raising three children and has since spent her entire career teaching multiple generations of local students. Among her former students is Gary Zehrbach, who now serves as the school district's deputy superintendent of administration.
A beloved reading specialist in the Deer Valley School District is being celebrated among her former students, fellow teachers, and her young students. After teaching for 46 years, Cindy White is retiring, after dedicating her life to educating children. White is a reading specialist at Sunrise Elementary School, where she spends time reading with the kids and getting them excited to learn. It is hard to imagine Mrs. White doing anything other than teaching.
But her career path wasn't always certain.
"I got married very young, had children very young and started thinking my husband’s older, and I’m like, ‘What if something happened to him? I don’t have a trade, I had waitresses,’" White recalled of her early life before making a pivotal decision.
"I thought, I’m gonna be a teacher. ""So I got through school, I had one interview with Ken Neumann here and that was it. I never had to interview again, so I was very fortunate," White said. Ever since then, she has been a Sunrise Elementary School lion, teaching generations of students over the years.
"I think about the kids. I’ll see them sometimes, and they have children, and I’ll think how can that be that it went that quick, but it does," White said.
"He was a good kid. His parents did well with him," White said. That good kid is all grown up now, working as deputy superintendent of administration at the Deer Valley School District, which just so happens to include Mrs. White’s school.
"Oh, I loved Ms. White. I grew up right next to the school, came over here in first grade and one of my most vivid memories," Zehrbach said.
"She had big balloons and names on the balloons and I remember being so excited my name was up there. ""He just looks like he’s grown up. Still looks like the little kid he was hasn’t changed that much," White said.
"I remember him. He wasn’t as tall as he is now, was thinner, more hair, probably didn’t have a mustache, but he was a good kid. Came from a good family.
"Now, after years of inspiring kids just like Gary, Mrs. White says it's time to put down the pencil. This is her last semester teaching, an occasion marked by a standing ovation from her peers and students. A lot has changed over the years.
"I’m not a technology person. I keep going to other teachers saying, ‘Can you show me this? ’" White said.
"I’m gonna volunteer and both of my daughters are teachers so go to volunteers so I’ll still be around kids that’s part of me," White said. "They need so much— somebody to care about them and let them know you care about them," White said. "My children— we constantly, even now, they’re in their 50s, we still say I love you," White said.
"I think that is one of the most important things kids need to hear that sort of thing. They hear a lot of things they shouldn’t be hearing but they need to have those words given to them. "
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