Deer Valley educator retires after 46 years of teaching

DEER VALLEY, Ariz. - A beloved reading specialist in the Deer Valley School District is being celebrated among her former students, fellow teachers, and her young students. After teaching for 46 years, Cindy White is retiring, after dedicating her life to educating children.

What we know:

White is a reading specialist at Sunrise Elementary School, where she spends time reading with the kids and getting them excited to learn. It is hard to imagine Mrs. White doing anything other than teaching. 

"I loved doing it and I loved the kids and I was making a difference," White said.

The backstory:

But her career path wasn't always certain.

"I got married very young, had children very young and started thinking my husband’s older, and I’m like, ‘What if something happened to him? I don’t have a trade, I had waitresses,’" White recalled of her early life before making a pivotal decision. "I thought, I’m gonna be a teacher."

So she went to ASU and in a few years earned her teaching degree, all while raising three kids.

"So I got through school, I had one interview with Ken Neumann here and that was it. I never had to interview again, so I was very fortunate," White said.

Ever since then, she has been a Sunrise Elementary School lion, teaching generations of students over the years.

"I think about the kids. I’ll see them sometimes, and they have children, and I’ll think how can that be that it went that quick, but it does," White said.

Local perspective:

One of those kids is Gary Zehrbach.

"He was a good kid. His parents did well with him," White said.

That good kid is all grown up now, working as deputy superintendent of administration at the Deer Valley School District, which just so happens to include Mrs. White’s school.

"Oh, I loved Ms. White. I grew up right next to the school, came over here in first grade and one of my most vivid memories," Zehrbach said. "She had big balloons and names on the balloons and I remember being so excited my name was up there."

What She's Saying:

Mrs. White still holds fond memories of her former student as well.

"He just looks like he’s grown up. Still looks like the little kid he was hasn’t changed that much," White said. "I remember him. He wasn’t as tall as he is now, was thinner, more hair, probably didn’t have a mustache, but he was a good kid. Came from a good family."

Big picture view:

Now, after years of inspiring kids just like Gary, Mrs. White says it's time to put down the pencil. This is her last semester teaching, an occasion marked by a standing ovation from her peers and students.

"It’s like you know when it’s time, and it’s just time," White said.

A lot has changed over the years.

"I’m not a technology person. I keep going to other teachers saying, ‘Can you show me this?’" White said.

But she is not altogether done working with children.

"I’m gonna volunteer and both of my daughters are teachers so go to volunteers so I’ll still be around kids that’s part of me," White said.

Dig deeper:

Her advice to future teachers is to be patient.

"They need so much— somebody to care about them and let them know you care about them," White said.

And remember that what a child needs more than anything is love.

"My children— we constantly, even now, they’re in their 50s, we still say I love you," White said. "I think that is one of the most important things kids need to hear that sort of thing. They hear a lot of things they shouldn’t be hearing but they need to have those words given to them."

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