A Toast to Lifelong Learning
December 19, 2007 | 
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“I’m not ready yet,” were Dr. Ann Elrod’s words in March of 1999, when she decided to retire after 30 years in the field of education. While most veteran teachers with 30 years of experience to their credit would more than likely hightail it to retirement Nirvana, Ann decided that there still was much more she wanted to contribute within the profession. Those who know her as Doctor Elrod, School District 20 President, President of Phi Delta Kappa, President of the Colorado Association of Secondary School Principals, and Chair of the State Committee for the Colorado North Central Association, are very glad that she decided to remain on the education scene.Ann McClintock arrived in Colorado Springs in 1957, way back when the city was bounded on the east by Circle Drive, north Nevada Avenue was the end of town, and the Broadmoor Hotel was a day-trip away. Despite her family’s move from Denver to the southern hinterlands, Ann lost no time in immersing herself into the Colorado Springs way of life. Her first in a series of epiphanies occurred when she attended Wasson High School.
“The best teachers I ever had were at Wasson High School,” Ann said. “I based my dissertation research on what I learned in Lee Higgins’s class, and I taught under him when I returned to Wasson as a teacher. That was awesome.”
All was not totally awesome, however. Ann discovered that outstanding teaching requires lots of thought, much attention to individual student needs, and above all, a comprehensive lesson plan. She shares with her college students an experience from her first teaching days at Wasson, just to let them know that teaching master does not “just happen.”
“When I was first observed at Wasson, the observer wrote in her notes, ‘Does she have a lesson plan?’ It was then I knew I had to get a grip or get another career.” Ann definitely got a grip.
Ann’s nineteen-year career as a speech teacher at Wasson High School initiated many changes in her teaching style. She trained the city’s outstanding speech team, brought home state and national speech trophies, and discovered that her leadership skills were duly noted by her colleagues and supervisors.
In 1985, Ann accepted the post of Teacher on Special Assignment, and in 1987 she entered the CU Cohort Program for doctoral studies through CU Denver. She served at Liberty High School for eight years as Assistant Principal, and her research on alternative schools facilitated her entry into a principalship at Aspen Valley High School, where the school received the John Irwin School of Excellence Award, and Schools of Innovation commendation from the Chamber of Commerce thanks to her research focus.
“Aspen Valley helped me learn and I am still learning, “ Ann told us.
She ran for School District 20 School Board in 2000, and the learning curve “was straight up.” Ann admits that Francis Jenkins, another role model in her career, is the main reason why she ran for School Board in the first place. It seemed a crucial time to decide how policy governance, focus on student achievement, and the accreditation process could become a state model for academic success. Her bottomline was “to establish a competitive edge with the rest of the state, to maintain a general fund to keep up with adequate funding and take the next hill.” Ann ran on that platform, and she won the election.
Thirty years of stellar teaching, one doctoral degree in Curriculum and Supervision from CU Denver, one vice-principalship, one principalship, one interim university directorship, and two Academy School District presidencies later, Ann McClintock Elrod still leads believes that “there remains much to do in the field.” She believes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, so she will continue “to make the parts work.”
Ann has admitted to one defect in her work ethnic. “I may collaborate too much.” Those who have benefited from her collaborative efforts would not agree in the least. With Ann in charge, “taking the next hill” comes about directly as a result of collaboration, planning, and celebration. “It’s all about working together.”
Ann’s life is not all work, however. She and her husband Ron share a mutual passion for travel, for visiting family and friends, and for enriching the lives of others. They receive an A+ for all of the above, and those who know them thank them for making our days rich because they shared them with us. Absolutely Doctor Ana, “You are awesome!”
- M
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