Sally was one of the original teachers hired at Sahuaro when the school opened in 1968. She taught and coached until 1974. She was the gymnastics coach, cheer coach and physical education teacher. Because of the commitment she makes to students she transferred schools because she could not coach. Sally ended up working at several schools around Tucson until landing back at Sahuaro in 1988.
Sally then taught special education and Life Skills along with being department chair until her retirement in 2003. She was a class sponsor, ran the snack bar for football and basketball did a variety of jobs nobody else would do. But even in retirement Sally could not stay away and was hired back to teach just the special education classes. When I say “just” – I don’t mean “just”. She taught those classes with pride and with the love she taught all of her classes.
Sally is not just a teacher. She gives 100% to whatever she’s involved. She cleaned the weight room by herself for years. She wrote a curriculum for a freshman class and for the four years she taught that class, the number of disciplinary referrals went down. Her senior class raised more money than probably two or three classes put together.
Once Sally retired, she never really retired. She works with Paula Saldutti and sets up the Christmas Luncheon. Sahuaro sponsors several families for Christmas and it’s all because of Sally’s efforts. She gets Christmas trees donated for the families and heads up the food drive. She also runs the end-of-year breakfast for retirees every year; there probably wouldn’t be a breakfast without all of Sally’s hard work.