Deerfield principal reflects on 20 years, changes in education

Sitting in her office for one of the last times as she prepares for retirement, Wilmot Elementary Principal Eileen Brett held up a framed cutout of a Deerfield Review article from August of 2004. It was about the school’s new principal, Eileen Yatvin.

After 23 years working at the school, with 21 of those as its principal, Brett is retiring, to be succeeded by Jessica Hutchison. Brett had rediscovered the old newspaper article while going through some things at home.

While some things have changed since then — such as her hair color and last name — Brett’s philosophy on the power of education and educators has remained steadfast, even as the culture and technology of both education and the world shifted.

Brett came to the school from faraway Colorado Springs, where she was a literacy coach, joining Wilmot as an assistant principal. A few years later, she was selected after a nationwide search to take over for Dale Roeing as principal.

It was a different world back then in many ways, Brett said, for students and teachers alike. There was no social media, and most of the staff, let alone the students, didn’t carry phones. During the transition from Roeing, her “inheritance” was largely paper documents. Today, as she’s helped prepare Hutchison, it’s been digital.

It’s a faster-paced world now, and the kids face increased pressure, she said. Everything travels “so quickly,” and information can spread before parents or teachers are even aware.

The changes can be a challenge for teachers, too, as they learn to navigate new technologies and educate students about how to be safe online.

“It’s a different world,” Brett said. “It’s different than when we went to school.”

It wasn’t just technological changes she saw over her career. The format of education has shifted, Brett said, focusing more on problem solving, collaboration and other life skills, going beyond teaching from “a manual.” Education has had to “keep up” with preparing kids for the jobs and world of today.

But as some things change, others remain the same.

“Fundamentally, kids are also just kids,” she said. “They want to come to school and feel cared for. They want to come to school and feel happy. They want to learn and grow.”

Looking back at her time at Wilmot, she highlighted its “Ready Set Kindergarten” program, which offers kids a “taste” of school before the year fully starts to ease the transition and reduce anxiety. She also praised the holiday gift drive, which was expanded to the whole school district. Last year was also the kickoff of the summer library program, which opened up the school library during the summer for the kids to come in during events and check out books.

‘That power is immeasurable’

Looking back at the Deerfield Review article, Brett reflected on how she can still see the same beliefs she held about education back then in herself today.

“I got older, but the passion is still there,” she said.

Teachers can help students not just in the academic sense, but also in the social and emotional side of learning.

“An educator — it could be a teacher, teaching assistant, an administrator — can truly change the life of a child just by listening to them, and caring about them, and wanting to be invested in their learning and who they are,” Brett said. “I really believe that power is immeasurable.”

While she doesn’t know what she’ll be doing in retirement, she looks forward to seeing her daughter off to school for the first time, something she could never do while she was working. Brett said she might take some classes of her own.

After so many years, Wilmot has become like a “second family,” and while she looks forward to waking up with no commitments and enjoying her first summer off work since she was 15 years old, it will be a bittersweet moment.

“It’s overwhelming,” Brett said. “I’m excited looking at the next chapter of my life, but very sad at the same time.”