Dublin ISD Assistant Superintendent Terri White has dedicated her life to the district and after 32 years, she is closing the chapter as she enters retirement.
“Terri White has dedicated her educational career and her heart to the students, staff and community of Dublin and we will forever be grateful for the impact she had on so many lives,” Superintendent Melissa Summers said.
Terri originally got her start in education as a teacher.
Like so many people who head off to college, Terri wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she knew she wanted to be a mom. Volunteering at a special education camp, she thought that was what she would do professionally, but at the last minute she changed her mind.
“I thought education was a good job for a mom. No one was in education in my family and I was the first college grad on either side of her family,” Terri said.
Growing up in Dublin with multiple generations also attending school here, she knew she wanted to teach in Dublin after graduating at Tarleton State University with her education degree.
“It was really sweet, I came over here to interview and a former teacher, then principal Ermanell Hurst, pulled out my fifth grade journal and opened it to a page that said, ‘When I grow up I want to teach at Dublin Elementary. She said, ‘I have to hire you, even if you screw up this interview, this is too cute.’ She hired me for fifth grade which I did for two years,” Terri said.
Terri then moved to the Gifted and Talented Program, which she did for many years. This set her up for the next part of her career as an instructional specialist because she taught every content area and every grade level as part of the GT program.
After about 10 years of teaching, the district began to utilize her as an instructional specialist.
“Being a teacher came pretty natural to me but I love, love, love the science behind it. I can talk all day long about why kids learn a certain way and why you have to teach certain subjects that way. I was constantly learning and adding knowledge about that. I took some classes towards my masters at Tarleton in instruction and in gifted,” she said.
With a flexible schedule because of GT, they started pulling her to go in and watch or help teachers. That morphed into her becoming an instructional specialist which she did for the next few years while still being a teacher.
“My whole thing was all I had ever wanted to be was a teacher. I never wanted to move up ... I was very content being a teacher,” she said. “I kept saying OK I’ll do these things if I can still teach.”
She was reluctant to step into administration, but the former superintendent Dr. Rodney Schneider changed her mind when he told her she could affect change in 1,200 kids a year instead of 30.
“Hands down the students are what I will miss the most. When I was a teacher I made lifelong connections to students. And I taught long enough that I had the opportunity to teach the children of many of my prior students,” Terri said. “That was really special!”
The assistant superintendent said those kinds of relationships are harder to build once she became an administrator but she kept up her involvement with students by starting at a different campus each day.
As she moves into retirement, she said she will definitely miss the staff since they are her closest friends and they feel like family.
“I have several memories of our amazing staff coming together to support each other when we were faced with the loss of a staff member or student. Those were terrible times, but watching the way everyone leans on each other and helps each other through those times was beautiful. I’ve worked with amazingly kind-hearted people,” Terri said.
The educator said she will also miss being a part of something as important as educating kids.
“I feel so blessed that I got to get up every morning and do something that matters. I loved this career so much,” she said.
As Terri enters retirement, she will get to enjoy spending time with her husband, Brant White, daughter and son-inlaw, Taylor and DeWayne Keith and grandson Jonah Keith, son and his girlfriend, Jeck White and Taylor Clayton, who is a counselor for DISD.
Since her husband isn’t retiring just yet, Terri said she plans to find something to do, maybe part-time.
“Once he retires, we plan on traveling quite a bit. We love going to concerts and visiting new places. I guess I’m just planning on having a slower pace. I’m looking forward to that!,” she said.