When the final bell rings in the 2025-2026 school year, several longtime teachers representing decades of experience will retire from the San Carlos Unified School District after contributing to its growth.
“These teachers have made a lasting difference in the lives of our students, families and staff thanks to their years of dedicated service,” says the district’s superintendent Shawn Pietila. “Their commitment, impact and the relationships they have built over the years have greatly contributed to our district, and recognition for the legacy they leave behind is well deserved.”
Sarah McAdams has taught fourth and fifth grade in the district for 28 years after receiving her teaching degree from Northern Arizona University. She grew up in Globe and attended schools there through high school, graduating from the former East Globe High School on Ash Street.
As a student in Globe, McAdams remembers that many San Carlos students had to get up early in the morning to ride the bus in the dark because of limited education options in San Carlos. But the growth of the district and focus on local education has changed that.
“There's still some that go to Globe, but more of them are actually educated here,” McAdams says. “I've talked to the kids about it: I come to you and you don't have to get on a bus to ride all the way into Globe. It's good that teachers come here.”
Once she received her teaching degree, McAdams completed her student teaching for 33 fifth-graders in a single classroom at Miami's Inspiration School, which is now being refurbished into affordable housing.
She has watched and been involved as San Carlos’ district campus has been built up around her.
“Since I've been here, they've built new buildings for all of the children because they want them educated in their own community,” McAdams says. “I tell the kids that the elders wanted them to have a school here, they worked hard to get the schools here and they're beautiful schools.”
During her career, McAdams was also a mentor in the Arizona State University TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement, “teaching teachers how to teach.”
In her retirement, McAdams hopes to help her daughter Jennifer Bennett expand her baking business — Jen's Custom Creations — and spend more time with her grandchildren.
“I've taught out here my entire career and had wonderful experiences,” she says. “I feel like I grew with the schools in Globe, and then grew with the schools out here.”
Special Education teacher Ronda Escalera has been teaching fifth graders in the district for nine years, coming to San Carlos in 2017 after a 10-year career in a large charter school district in Orange County, California.
“Once I started working with those who have special needs, I found that it was my absolute favorite place to be,” Escalera says. “I was so lucky to have been led to work in San Carlos, and teaching here has been so rewarding.”
After spending the majority of her life in the hustle and bustle of Southern California, Escalera and her husband came to Arizona with the thought of retiring here, and found a home in the area.
She appreciates the strong family ties of the San Carlos Apache people and takes pride in helping her students who may come from backgrounds that make their educational journeys difficult.
“It has been a pleasure to realize that some of my students had progressed so well that they no longer needed the support of special education services,” she says. “While I realize that I am here to teach and support my students, it has been a pleasure for me to be with my students as they have taught me and supported me during the later years of my career.”
While she is retiring a little bit earlier than anticipated, Escalera plans to continue to help with testing for students who might need special education services.
“When some students clearly live in difficult circumstances, they are still resilient, they still come to school and share with me, and they demonstrate that they are brave,” Escalera says. “The kids are always worth it, and they're the reason you stay, no matter what else.”
One of the longest-tenured teachers at the district is Apache Language expert Joyce Johnson, who has been there off and on since 1989.
Johnson was raised in San Carlos and attended the schools from kindergarten through her senior year in high school. She was instrumental in creating the Apache language and cultural programs in the district.
She studied Native American curriculum development, American Indian studies and reading, language and culture at the University of Arizona, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in early childhood development, family and consumer resources. Throughout her career, she has taught pre-K through college, and has served on the board for the Apache Language Consortium and as the language preservation coordinator for the San Carlos Apache Tribe.
Over the course of 37 years at the district, she has worked for seven superintendents and crossed the country from New York to Alaska on her mission to preserve the Apache language for posterity.
Her first two years at the district were as a teaching assistant, but one day, the former superintendent Dr. John Bush casually walked her to a classroom where Johnson was presented with her first teaching assignment. As the two walked through the campus, Bush quizzed Johnson about her education and experience, and when they opened the classroom door, he told her it was her new classroom.
“He said he was interviewing me as we were walking across campus,” she remembers. “That's how I got started: Dr. Bush interviewing me without my knowledge, offering me a job and then I was a special ed preschool teacher.”
When Kathleen Wesley-Kitcheyan was elected as the first woman chair of the San Carlos Apache Tribe in 2003, Johnson left the district to work for her office, but returned to the classroom permanently in 2007.
Upon her retirement, Johnson says she plans to travel as much as world events will allow. She has postponed a planned trip to Germany, but this fall will take a cruise to Alaska. She also wants to travel extensively to the Eastern Seaboard to places that are on her bucket list.
She may also open a shop to sell clothing she designs — she says she went to school to be a fashion designer and creates camp dresses for family members — but due to the passing of a friend she intended to go into business with, she will put that off for now.
But what she really wants to do is continue her education at some point in the near future.
“I want to be Dr. Johnson before I leave this universe,” she says. “I can get my master’s in a year, and after that, probably a few more years for my Ph.D. Hopefully I'll start in the language master's program at the University of Arizona in the fall and complete it in '27.”
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