Page 12 - August 2019

Wendy Lacombe : The Art of Education

story by LISA ALLEN photo by PAUL NURNBERG
R egardless of your age, when you the district. She's in the running for District tests," she argues.

meet Wendy Lacombe, you wish
Teacher of the Year, in which she would
Another educational challenge in
Beaufort County is the disparity between
she was your teacher. Today. Right represent Beaufort County teachers to the
now. You know she's a teacher
who changes lives. state. the beginning pay of about $35,000 and
the local cost of living. "If you just graduated
"Every school has its own DNA," she
Sitting across from her, one basks in said. Each school's needs, each student's from college with students loans and are
her warmth and enthusiasm. When you needs, are different. looking at $1,200 a month for a basic place
ask about teaching, her passion for her "Accountability is important, and there to live, you're barely going to have enough
profession exudes. Yes, she acknowledges, needs to be a measure to evaluate job money left over for groceries."
teaching is a tough, frustrating, bureaucratic performance. However, the accountability Schools have to focus on recruitment and
endeavor in which teachers are forced- measures we have in place currently, retention. Turnover is high, one year hitting
fed regulations and requirements that pile specifically standardized nearly 40 percent at Beaufort High.
up, layer upon layer, dictated with little "If wealth were determined by coffee
input from them by the feds, the state, the mugs, candles, school spirit t-shirts, and
district and the school. But that's not what's Christmas ornaments, I would be up there
important. with Oprah," she wrote. But that isn't how
"The end game is those kids," said the world works.
Lacombe, who teaches senior and AP "Teaching is a noble profession.
English and advises the National Teachers are people with huge
Honor Society chapter at Beaufort hearts and big dreams who clearly
High School. "You have to find the do not go into the profession
joy and the purpose." for the money. They go into this
Teaching, she said, is an art, profession because they want to
not a science. "It's all about the make a difference and leave this
relationship you build with each world a better place than when
student. That's how you reach they found it. When we fight for
them." teachers, we're really fighting for
In her senior English class, students."
she had her students tackle Schools are expected to solve
the question, Edgar Allan Poe: society's problems. They feed,
murdered or natural death? They clothe, counsel, advise, protect, and
have to read carefully, think critically somewhere in there, teach.
and argue convincingly. She teaches Lacombe's disappointed the SC
them to communicate on paper, through Legislature didn't pass the Teachers Bill of
presentations and video. Rights this year, which would have required
She shows them, doesn't tell them, that schools to give teachers a 30-minute lunch
words are powerful. break, limit class size, raise pay and reduce
Working with the Pat Conroy Literary testing.
Center, Lacombe and the English high-stakes group testing, are not Despite the pressures and frustrations,
department will launch a short-story productive, useful, or efficient," she wrote in Lacombe maintains a positive attitude and
scholarship program in which students will her essay applying for the role. boosts her colleagues, too.
write their way to college money. Last year, The one test for all doesn't work. "If I She concluded her essay with gratitude.
she encouraged the entire school to read the was in the cupcake business, yet had no "To my fellow teachers, I appreciate you,
book, "Dear Martin," before the author Nic control over my raw ingredients, and I was and I know that we can make this profession
Stone held a student workshop. sent oatmeal, honey, raisins, and yogurt, I better. It is time to work together with our
Outside of school, she volunteers through might make a great dessert, but it probably administrators to make changes where we
her church, St. Peter's Catholic Church. wouldn't be a cupcake," she wrote. need them, make our voices heard for the
Even after 30 years in the classroom, her If a ninth-grade teacher has a student good of our students, and share our joyful
love of teaching hasn't diminished a bit. To who starts the year off reading at a fourth- moments. If we are joyful in our profession,
students and colleagues alike, she shares her grade level, he can make great strides, but especially if our students get that message,
love of learning. She looks for the good in no matter how gifted the teacher, he will not then we will recruit and retain teachers."
every new rule or teaching method. move five levels in a year. That's the end game: excellent teachers
It's no surprise her peers elected her "Success needs to be measured by the change the world.
Teacher of the Year for Beaufort High. In that individual gains a student makes in the Don't you wish you had had Mrs.
role, she'll represent her fellow teachers to classroom, measured by pre-tests and post- Lacombe for senior English?

12 August 2019 | www.BeaufortLifestyle.com