by Tiffany Capuano

Choice, chance and circumstance are drawing Atlanta-area teachers back to the sights, sounds and smells of their childhood alma maters – and stirring a few nostalgic memories.
Some of the best teachers are those grown and educated right here in our own backyard. In Cobb County alone, more than 100 alumni came back last year to teach in the district. It’s a passion for the schools and a tribute to the teachers who inspired them. Here are just a few who have returned to their alma maters to educate the next crop of alumni.

Tony Carter
Second- and third-grade teacher, The Paideia School, Atlanta

Favorite time of day then: Recess. “I’m a sports kid. That was my time to shine.”
Favorite time of day now: Read-aloud to the kids. (This is where his degree in audio production comes in, he says.)
Inspired by: Cecilia Cane, third- and fourth-grade teacher. “She helped mold me into the man I am today.”

Tony Carter of Stone Mountain may have been destined to be a teacher, he says. Carter attended The Paideia School his entire academic career, graduating in 2000. He entered Howard University in Washington, D.C., earning a bachelor’s degree in communications.

While he dreamed of being successful in the radio business, he says the pull to teach kids was even greater. He spent one year in media sales but knew he craved more.

“I think I was in denial,” he says with a laugh. “It’s built into my blood and my genes.” Carter’s grandfather was a dean at Alabama A&M, and his dad taught at Morehouse College. His mom, who taught at Spelman College, comes from a family of eight siblings – all of whom teach at high schools or colleges.

When he arrived for the faculty retreat prior to the start of the school year in 2005, the headmaster asked everyone who taught Carter to stand. More than half of the faculty stood, says Carter. It’s a moment he’ll never forget about his return to the halls of Paideia.

“Here, I am encouraged to teach what I like and know. Last year, I had the opportunity to teach a unit about the Negro baseball leagues. I grew up learning so much about it on my own, and I thought it would be a great unit for the kids,” says Carter. “Too many places teach for a test. Here, it’s encouraged to teach to learn.”

Carter teaches second and third grade at his alma mater. Now in his second year of teaching, Carter is helping shape students the same way he was during his years at Paideia.

“The teachers were passionate and they just wanted you to be who you were, even if you were an ‘odd’ student,” he recalls. “The teachers who challenged me were the ones who helped develop my character. I thought it was all about the playground, but Cecilia Cane, my third- and fourth-grade teacher, helped mold me into the man I am today.”

Carter’s teaching doesn’t just stop in the classroom. A college soccer player, he also coaches varsity boys soccer and eighth-grade boys basketball.

“Every day I come to school is special,” says Carter. “I have flashbacks, like ‘Did I do my homework?’ Then I have to remember that they are my colleagues. It’s cool being on the other side.”

Robin Brewington
Special education teacher, Leslie J. Steele Elementary, Decatur

Favorite time of day then: Recess.
Favorite time of day now: Afternoons. “That’s when we have the math portion, and math is fun.”
Inspired by: Ethel Brown, advanced math teacher at Gordon High School.

A special education teacher at Leslie J. Steele Elementary in Decatur, Robin Brewington left corporate banking after 10 years to pursue her dream of educating children.

“It was the easiest thing because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” says Brewington about her transition to teaching. “I look forward to wanting to go to work, versus getting up and having to go to work.”

Brewington, who works one-on-one with students specifically for language arts and math, took a pay cut to follow her “passion for kids with learning disabilities.”

A single mother, Brewington earned her psychology degree in 2004. She couldn’t earn an education degree because she was unable to complete student teaching during the day while working full-time. She’s now working on a master’s degree and a teaching certificate in special education at the University of Georgia.

Returning to her alma mater happened by accident, she says. This is her first year at Leslie J. Steele, and only her second year teaching. Her first school let her go when special education enrollment declined. She immediately searched the Internet for job openings in the local districts and found one at Leslie J. Steele Elementary.

Brewington attended Leslie J. Steele from third through seventh grades and walked to school every day. The school still is considered a “walking school,” she says, where there are no buses to transport students.

The area’s growth means the original building where Brewington attended is being torn down and rebuilt. But that doesn’t change the spirit of the school and her desire to be a part of the changes.
She lives in the area and teaches the children of former classmates, she says. Her fourth-grade teacher, Elizabeth Townsend, was a substitute on Brewington’s first day as a teacher at her alma mater.

“Now I understand what my teachers went through,” says Brewington. “I hope that children want to grow up and give back to others. I want them to want to make a difference. And I want to be remembered.”

John Williams
Spanish teacher, Dacula High School, Dacula

Favorite time of day then: Lunch. “I liked to socialize.”
Favorite time of day now: Coaching. “I get to see the kids in a different light.”
Inspired by: his mother, Eloise Williams. “She didn’t want me to go into teaching at the time because it was an under-respected and underpaid profession.”

John Williams of Dacula jumped at the chance to travel to the Dominican Republic after college graduation. What started as student teaching led to 16 years of educating students there. He met his wife, Mercy, and they have two boys, Jake and Danny.

Their life in Santo Domingo was a good one, but Williams longed to be closer to the place he called home. After 20 years away from Georgia, Williams returned to be closer to his parents, who have lived in Gwinnett County all their lives.

The Williams’ family roots run deep in Gwinnett’s education arena: His mother was a fifth-grade teacher at Dacula School (now Dacula Elementary School), and several of his cousins were masons who built the original 1910 school. When it burned down in 1945, it was Williams’ grandfather who donated all of the lumber for the (middle school) gymnasium, which still stands.

His desire to return to Gwinnett led him to teach Spanish at Parkview High School, but when his sons began their high school careers he longed to be even closer to them. His son, Jake, graduated from Dacula in 2006, and Danny is a junior there.

Besides family ties there are the alumni ties, too. The principal at Dacula High School, Donald Nutt, and Williams attended high school together. “The irony is that I was the student council president, while he was the vice president,” says Williams. Coming back to his alma mater after two decades meant many changes. “This is a different era,” says Williams. “Back then, there were only a handful of kids. We had 61 in our graduating class. Last year, 425 graduated from Dacula. The biggest difference is the size.”

“But there’s still a sense of community,” he says. “Throughout all the growth and suburban sprawl they’ve maintained the local flavor of a small town community.”

That sense of community was a draw for Williams. “For me, being able to give back to the community was the most important reason to come back,” says Williams. “I like getting back and working with the kids who want to make an influence on the student body and the community.” As student council faculty adviser, Williams is working with the students to beautify the high school campus.

Williams maintains his ties with the Dominican Republic, collecting used sports gear and donating it to children there each summer for their athletic programs.

Kathy McClelland
Head Librarian, George Woodruff Library, The Westminster Schools, Atlanta

Favorite time of day then: Free period. “In high school, we could see the opposite sex [during free period], and we could see who was eyeing whom.”
Favorite time of day now: Free period. “The library is bustling, and this is when I get the most interesting questions.”
Inspired by: Frances Outler, senior English teacher

It’s been 21 years since Kathy McClelland of Sandy Springs stepped through the doors of The Westminster School and began her career as a teacher.

“It was my children who brought me back to campus,” says McClelland. She’s always had close ties to Westminster and wanted her children to attend as well. When all three of her children started school at Westminster, she couldn’t think of a better place to work.

“I volunteered for years at the Atlanta Speech School, and I just drifted into library and media services,” she says. McClelland taught high school English at several area high schools before having children. She later earned her master’s degree in library/media services.

McClelland came to Westminster from public school in fourth grade. The biggest change is that the school has become co-educational since her school days. When she attended, there was a boys’ school and girls’ school. The only time boys and girls mixed was during lunch, she adds.

“Knowing the unique pressures there might be for a school like Westminster, I am more sympathetic and able to anticipate the needs of the students,” says McClelland. “I remember getting organized was a big part when I was a student, and now I’m helping students with that.” McClelland has been a part of The Westminster School as a student, parent and teacher. As a student, she found the faculty to be supportive and accessible. As a parent, she watched as her own children had the same supportive and accessible environment. Now, as a teacher, she’s able to provide that support directly.

McClelland says regardless of how taught, with computers or without, the same excellence in education is what has remained at Westminster. “They are still producing the highest quality students, and developing leadership and community service skills.”

The title “librarian” is misleading; McClelland teaches more than 1,000 classes each year on plagiarism, cheating, and strategies for searching electronic databases – which is more classes than many of the school’s junior high teachers. Her use of the computer affects her daily life with the students. “We have a focus on the ethics of using information,” she says. “These kids have grown up with the Internet. They don’t fear technology.”

Robert Meaders Jr.
Social studies teacher, seventh grade, Marietta Middle School, Marietta

Favorite time of day then: After school. “I liked to hang with friends in the parking lot or play football.”
Favorite time of day now: After school. “Going home to see my own family – my wife and kids.”
Inspired by: Nancy Parker, art teacher. “She could draw blood out of a turnip and get creativity out of me.”

There was never any doubt in Robert Meaders’ mind that he would teach at any other school. “It’s not that other schools weren’t as good or that I wouldn’t be as good at other schools,” he says, “but I wanted my cake and to eat it, too.”

Meaders graduated from Marietta High School, earned his degree in education and came back with plans to spend his teaching career at Marietta Middle School. This is his 10th year.

“I wanted to teach and be at home,” he says. Both of his parents, his wife and his wife’s family have lived in Marietta all of their lives. Meaders’ son, Trey, attends West Side Elementary School, making him the fourth generation to attend Marietta City Schools.

“Many don’t even know I went here, but there’s such a sense of ownership,” says Meaders. “Marietta City Schools is big on family, and we really are here to support one another.”

During his own middle school days, Meaders recalls “languishing in private school” before coming to Marietta Middle School in eighth grade.

“I liked Marietta because it was more enriching and I was exposed to diversity,” says Meaders.
Coming back as a teacher, Meaders has worked beside many teachers who taught him. He calls them his “other mothers.” “It’s hard to see them retire,” he says. The guidance office secretary and a custodian are still there, too.

“My art teacher, Nancy Parker, came back a few weeks ago to see me in class. She’s about 5-foot-nothing, and I’m a big guy, and I couldn’t even talk because I knew I would cry,” he says. “She told my class, ‘I used to teach him and he was a great artist … once he left my class!’”

What keeps Meaders coming back each year is the exact reason he’s a teacher.

“It seems cliché, but it’s that ‘A-ha’ moment for my students, when they’ve been working through an exhausting moment and they finally get it,” he says.

Sarah Covington
Gifted-education specialist, Eastvalley Elementary, Marietta

Favorite time of day then: Snack time. “I used to bring popcorn and share it with my teacher.”
Favorite time of day now: End of day when students are reflecting. “When they share something insightful and are excited about the little things.”
Inspired by: her mom, Betsy Bunte. “I really saw the joy of teaching in my mother.”

For Sarah Covington of Mableton and her sister, Beth, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to teaching. Both followed in their mother’s footsteps, entering the teaching field. All have taught in Cobb County.

Covington is a gifted-education specialist at Eastvalley Elementary School in Marietta, where she attended first through fifth grades. Her sister was a biology teacher at Wheeler High School before becoming a stay-at-home mom a few years ago, and their mom, Betsy Bunte, is head of the English Department and teaches American literature and composition at Campbell High School.

Growing up with a mom who was a teacher, Covington always knew she wanted to be a teacher. “I played with my sisters and dolls and pretended to play school,” she adds.

Covington says she knew Eastvalley was the only place for her. During a teacher job fair while attending Clemson University in South Carolina, she talked to a Cobb County schools representative and knew there was no other place she’d rather be. She landed a teaching job at Eastvalley immediately after graduation.

For the first few years Covington taught beside her former fourth-grade teacher, Diane Bowman. “I had to call her Diane, and being able to teach alongside her is one of my favorite stories,” she says.

Now in her ninth year of teaching, Covington has taught fourth and second grades. This is her first year teaching the higher learners in the school’s gifted and talented program, called Target. She is teaching students she had from previous years.

While the building has changed and grown, it is the talent shows, chorus and Saturday school carnivals that Covington remembers most from her childhood.

“I always said, ‘I won’t have homework.’ But I’m always learning, and I bring stuff home every day,” she says about the difference between being a student and teacher. Returning as a teacher does have its perks. “I get to see the teacher’s lounge,” she jokes. “And it’s smoke-free now.”