When Pillow Academy’s elementary school starts, there will be four new faces on the faculty.
The school has hired two fifth-grade teachers, Elizabeth Barth and Mary Courtney Wilson, and two second-grade teachers, Janice Aust and Donna Pittman.
The four teachers have more than 80 years of combined experience in teaching.
“They are all seasoned and excellent teachers,” said Carla Sutphen, principal of the elementary school. “We are looking forward to having them here.”
Pittman, a Pillow graduate who retired from the Greenwood Public School District in May, has 30 years of teaching experience.
“I just love to teach,” Pittman said. “And I wasn’t ready to sit around.”
Although she will be teaching second grade at Pillow, Pittman has taught students in kindergarten through third grade. She says working with the young students is rewarding.
“You can see the light bulb go off in their head when they learn to do something for the first time,” she said. “When they learn to read, they are so excited. It is really gratifying.”
Pittman is also looking forward to teaching at Pillow, where her youngest daughter is in school.
Janice Aust is looking forward to returning to Pillow, her alma mater. Aust was part of the first graduating class of the school and taught there in the 1980s. She will be teaching second grade alongside Pittman — someone she has worked with before.
Aust has taught for 32 years, most recently at W.C. Williams Elementary.
“I am looking forward to reconnecting with alumni and teaching the children of children I’ve already taught,” she said. “It will be fun to be back.”
Aust, like Pittman, will be teaching with family. Her grandsons are students at Pillow. She also said that although she has already spent three decades in the classroom, she still has some teaching left in her.
Elizabeth Barth, who will teach fifth grade, is also moving from the Greenwood Public School District to Pillow after 14 years at Bankston Elementary School.
She has also taught at Rising Sun and Davis Elementary School for a combined total of 20 years of work.
“My heart has always been with Pillow Academy,” she said. “I am a graduate of Pillow, and it feels like I am coming home.”
Mary Courtney Wilson will be teaching fifth grade with Barth. She is coming from Carrollton, where she was a teacher.
The elementary school has also adopted a new curriculum for fifth-grade math and first- and second-grade language.
“Our new curriculum for math is going to be more advanced than it has been in the past,” Sutphen said. “This is a decision to help prepare our students better for moving to the high school.”
Teachers start Aug. 8, and school begins Aug. 10 for students.
• Contact Andrea Hall at ahall@gwcommonwealth.com.
