Torrey Smith, Duxbury, will join Waitsfield Elementary School as a fifth/sixth grade teacher in the 2022-2023 school year. She has a master’s degree in teaching from Columbia Teachers College. Smith served on the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) Board for four years, concluding in March 2022, including her last year as chair.
Her three children have attended HUUSD schools. When her kids were younger, she volunteered in local schools and was a substitute teacher during the pandemic. Most recently, she’s been filling in as a long-term substitute at Hyde Park Elementary, teaching math to fourth and fifth graders. She has also taught arts to adults and worked with developmentally disabled adults.
“I’m really excited to work in my community again,” she said.
“There’s something special about teaching,” she said. “Every day there are great things that happen. Every day there’s something interesting. I love being a generalist. There are chances to connect with kids in more ways when teaching multiple subjects. It’s more challenging to build relationships when just teaching math.”
“I do think my work on the board helped me understand the great things happening in our schools,” she said. “I’m excited to be part of the Waitsfield Elementary School community. It seems like a very professional and warm community of teachers. I’m excited to have relationships with parents. I’ve really admired the work of Waitsfield Elementary for a long time.”
“Torrey impressed the hiring committee with her ease with students, her creativity and her reflectiveness,” Waitsfield Elementary principal Kaiya Korb wrote in a recent community newsletter. “As a component of the hiring process Torrey taught a model lesson to one of our current fifth/sixth-grade classes. More than one of the students followed up the hiring committee to say, ‘Hire her now!’ We listened.”
