Teacher closes the book; Isaac steps away from 33-year teaching career

   Steph Isaac says there have been many changes in her 33 years as a schoolteacher.

   In her eyes, students are not among them.

   “I would say, I think kids are the same,” Isaac said in a May 16 interview. “I just think that the world has changed. The world is so much more fast-paced with technology and social media.

   “I just think the world is different. I don’t think kids are different.”

   One thing that will be very different at Carpenter Elementary School when the 2025-26 school year rolls around – Isaac won’t be a full-time fourth-grade teacher.

   She has made the decision to retire from the Monticello Community School District, effective at the end of the current school year.

   There are a lot of reasons, she said. One of those is that she has reached the state’s “rule of 88.” The rule combines the teacher’s age with years of service, and when that figure reaches 88, the teacher is eligible for IPERS benefits from the State of Iowa.

   Isaac also said that in another way, she felt it was time.

   “I didn’t want to be a person that later on looked at it and thought, ‘I should have done it sooner,’ ” she said.

   The retirement will give her more time to work on one of her biggest passions, the pumpkin patch she and husband Steve operate, known as Hall Heritage Farms.

   Some of the pumpkins from the patch are donated by the Isaacs for the City of Monticello to display in the fall.

   “In the summer and fall, I’ll spend a lot of time doing that,” she said.

   That made things tricky while she was teaching.

   “(During) that window from August, when school starts, until Nov. 1, I really burn it on both ends. So this might be a nice change.”

   She plans to be a substitute teacher on occasion, as well.

   Asked what she will miss, Isaac immediately responded, “The kids. The relationships. And that’s probably one of the biggest things that has never changed.

   “No matter who you have, no matter who you are, build those relationships with the kids, and make sure you have contact with the families,” Isaac shared.

   She also said she will miss her co-workers.

   “It’s like a family. You spend so much of your life involved in the classroom, the teaching, and all of that. And I will miss the camaraderie,” Isaac said.

   She also praised the work of new elementary Principal Shannon Kehoe.

   “She transitioned smoothly into the leadership position of principal,” Isaac said of Kehoe.

   Isaac, who grew up in Monticello, started teaching in 1992, after graduating from Mount Mercy College (now University).

   She married Steve, and was hired to teach summer school at Four Oaks.

   She did some substitute teaching after that, until being hired at Carpenter, part-time, to teach fifth grade, back when that building housed grades 4-6.

   Isaac did a lot of coaching during those years, including volleyball, softball and basketball at various levels in the high school and middle school.

   “Somewhere in there I blew out my achilles tendon, and I had kids, so then that pretty much put an end to it,” she said of her coaching career.

   She worked under who she called the “three Johnsons,” Joyce, Pam and Frank.

   “They were great mentors,” Isaac said.

   She eventually became a full-time fifth-grade teacher, taught second grade at Sacred Heart School for a year, then returned to Carpenter to teach fourth grade – a job she has held since.

   “We didn’t even have computers when I started,” Isaac said. “Technology is a huge change. Kids are very well-versed in technology.”

   While she said students haven’t changed, she is happy with one big change the MCSD is about to make.

   “It’s great that the community supported a new (elementary) school,” she said.

   Steph and Steve have two adult children: Kate, who was recently hired as a junior professor at the University of Oklahoma; and Dani, who is an emergency department nurse in Cedar Rapids, and studying to become a nurse practitioner.

   Steve works for International Paper. He does a lot of traveling for the job, Steph said.

   “I get invited along, but I don’t go, because my commitment is here,” she said. “And it’s important to be here.”

   Her retirement will give her more time to travel, as well as the other endeavors she enjoys: reading, getting outdoors, gardening, and cooking.

   “Those are all things that, now that I’ll be retired, I can do,” Isaac said. “I’ll have way more flexibility.”