After working as the Grade 6 aide at ASL for 29 years, Ms. Barbara Bailey is retiring at the end of this school year.
Ms. Bailey remembers the school being very different from when she first came. In particular, she remembers that the Grade 6 was a lot smaller but only used to have two or three Apple III computers for the whole grade. She has witnessed the transition to every student having a personal laptop. She said, “We have more students but they pay more attention to their screens than they do to other things.”
When Ms. Bailey first joined the school, she also remembers the Grade 6 classrooms being split between Bottom Yellow and Top Red, giving the students and teachers plenty of exercise. She recalls that the classrooms were mostly open, meaning they had no walls like the current ones. She said it now feels like there are walls everywhere.
From all her time at ASL, she has one memory that sticks out in her mind. She remembers having a great time with students going on the Roman Britain trip, one of the old Grade 6 trips. She said, “We always had a great time and the kids had a great time. We hiked along Hadrian’s Wall in all weathers and it was really fun.”
Twenty-nine years ago Ms Bailey remembers having a neighbor who worked in Grade 6 at ASL who knew the school was looking for a new Grade 6 aide. It was Ms. Bailey’s neighbor who convinced her to take the job and the school to hire her.
Despite her long career at ASL, Ms. Bailey is finally ready to retire because of her age and health.
