The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – After one teacher announced his retirement last month, the Dayton School District has lost two more of their own; one due to retirement with the other taking a job in Walla Walla.

Mike McGhan decided to end his long teaching career earlier this year. All of his 39 years teaching took place at Dayton Elementary School, where he started in August 1977, after graduating from Washington State University in Pullman.

McGhan began by teaching Title 1 programs at the school, before moving to the Special Education program, which was his college major.

"I then taught Kindergarten for 10 years and just completed my tenth year teaching in the elementary computer lab," he said about his time at Dayton after he moved from the Special Education department.

McGhan was also a coach of various sports during his time as an educator. He has coached football, volleyball, softball, wrestling and baseball in his almost four decades of work for the district. He is also currently the coach of Dayton High School's Golf team. "I plan to continue coaching the high school golf team next year," he saidd.

"Retiring from teaching was a difficult decision," said McGhan. "I decided to retire because I felt I wasn't getting any younger but I am still young enough to learn some new things and go on some adventures. I felt that I wasn't as patient this year as I had been in the past and I did not want to have a negative impact on the children."

However, McGhan also stressed that teaching was "not a career, it was my life for a very long time."

Due to his dedication to his profession and the children he taught, it has been a rewarding experience for him. "I would not change a thing about my time working for Dayton School District. It truly has been a blessed life," said McGhan. "My favorite memories have just been the times when you see the look on a child's face when he or she learns something new."

When asked for his parting words, McGhan referred to a story he said was taped above his desk most of his career titled The Starfish. It reads:

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea. The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water. He asked, "Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a wasted of time?" The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. "But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish!" exclaimed the young man. "How can you make any difference?" The old man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to the safety of the sea, he said, "I make a difference to this one."

Sue Yenney, another teacher at Dayton Elementary, is also saying goodbye this summer. Yenney was the Kindergarten teacher, which was a spot she moved to in 2006 after spending her first years in Dayton as an Early Childhood Special Education specialist, a role she started in 1999. She also taught Preschool for kids (of which this writer was one) starting their time at Dayton Elementary. Yenney has been with the school for 17 years.

She is leaving her post in the Touchet Valley for a spot closer to her home in Walla Walla as a preschool special education teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary. This means that Yenney will be teaching the same classes she did when she started at Dayton.

While Yenney is happy to be taking a job in Walla Walla, the move was not an easy decision to make.

"The hardest thing about leaving Dayton is the incredible colleagues I worked with," she said. "We have built relationships with one another and worked well at providing the best education for the children in our community. The second hardest thing is I truly loved my job."

Yenney continued by talking about the numerous memories she has from the last 17 years with her cohorts. "I have so many memories from being in Dayton, it's hard to pick just one. I would have to say my fondest memory would be when Peggy Robanske called me at home before she began working as a para in the kindergarten classroom with me in 2006. Her words to me were something along the lines of 'is there anything you need me to do this summer before school starts?' She and I created a partnership throughout the years we worked together. We were able to provide a solid foundation to every child we worked with.  Her love, support and dedication to her job will stay with me forever as the greatest memory I have from working at DES."

Yenney also conveyed that she is happy with what she did in her time at DES. "I wouldn't change a thing! I was given the opportunity to work at DES and develop a strong program. I feel I made a contribution to the children of the community and will always be proud of the years I spent teaching the children in Dayton."

Before she starts the next chapter of her life, Yenney wants to thank the people of Dayton that have helped her along the way. "I would like to thank all of the parents for sharing their children with me over the past 17 years. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of their lives and working together to develop their children.  I would also like to thank my colleagues for being a part of my 'work family.' I have loved being a part of the Dayton community as a professional and also as a parent. Thank you to everyone who has wished me well on my new adventure at my next job! I will miss you all but am excited to grow as a professional," Yenney said.

McGhan and Yenney will both be greatly missed in the future, a point that was strongly put forth by Dayton Superintendent Doug Johnson. "It's always hard to lose good people. I have been here for seven years, Mike has been here a very long time. In the time I've been here, there have been a number of people that came up to me and talked about specific things that they (McGhan & Yenney) did for their kids to help them along the way," Johnson said.

"We will be trying to find good, talented people to replace them. They really cared about the kids," continued Johnson. "We have interviewed for the position left by Mike, and Sue's position just opened. There may be a potential shuffle in the elementary school, and someone may move to her spot to teach Kindergarten," said Johnson when asked about the search for replacements, who will definitely have big shoes to fill. Between Rob Moore, McGhan, and Yenney, Dayton has seen teachers move on who put in a combined 85 years of work for Dayton School District.

Dayton's first day of school for the 2016 – 2017 academic year is August 29th.