Retired teacher says substitute work has been “excellent for my mental health”

Donna Hennessy, a substitute teacher in the district and a retired classroom teacher, told the meeting she began teaching in 1960 after graduating from U of I and worked at South School until Feb. 2007 before becoming a district substitute.

Hennessy said substitute teaching has given her the chance to teach multiple grade levels and has been “excellent for my mental health.” She described a long career that began in third grade, expanded to preschool and middle school assignments, and continues daily as a substitute.

Hennessy said she “started teaching in 1960” and that her first placement was South School, where she walked to work. She told the meeting she stayed at South School until Feb. 2007 and then transitioned to substitute teaching in the district. “Every day has been glorious,” she said, adding that the variety of classrooms — from preschool to eighth grade — has kept her engaged.

She described one early substitute assignment in an eighth-grade classroom where a former third-grade student recognized her and “gave me a hug,” an exchange she said she needed. Hennessy also said she had been comfortable teaching third grade and called that time “a utopia,” but that substitute work allowed her to teach preschool “where the angels are just adorable” and to enjoy middle-school settings as well.

Hennessy concluded by saying she looks forward to the rest of the school year and future years of substitute teaching because no two days are the same and the work remains “fantastic.”