By Dani Tietz
Teaching is so much more than making sure students obtain knowledge. It’s also helping them develop confidence by meeting them where they are and creating a safe space for them to grow.
Building that world for children has always been a goal for St. Joseph’s Sandy Bayles.
“My second-grade teacher was the principal as well as a teacher,” Bayles said. “She was kind, loving, and fun. I wanted to grow up to be like her. She always gave us extra papers to play school with our friends.”
That early practice paid off.
At first, Bayles had her sights set on becoming a special education teacher, but forty years ago, those students were separated from the general population. Bayles decided to focus on elementary education instead.
Bayles began her career in Atwood, Ill. before she moved to Florida.
“When I moved to Florida there was an abundance of elementary teachers and a need for special education teachers so I started working at a children’s psychiatric day treatment school,” she said. “It was the hardest yet most rewarding experience working with children who were abused and abandoned. We moved our program to the public school setting and I have wanted to fight for the children who had been dealt a horrible hand.”
That fight did not end when Bayles moved back to East Central Illinois 29 years ago.
As a St. Joseph CCSD #169 Middle School Special Education teacher, Bayles has gone the extra mile to make sure that her students grow to understand the concepts presented to them and gain confidence.
“The most important thing I want my students to come away with is that they are enough,” she said. “Worthy of respect. They have to fight so much harder than other students to learn and may not learn the same way or at the same pace for they can and will make a difference in this world.”
Bayles said being a teacher has been her “heart and soul.”
“My favorite memories are some of the pranks that I was part of,” she said. “The laughter and tears with the people I have been blessed to now call my work family.”
As the 2022-23 school year comes to a close, so will her 41-year career.
But, she doesn’t plan on stepping away from making a difference.
“I have always wanted to rock babies in the NIU. I am an active member of my church and plan to continue volunteering,” she said.
And she also has plans to spend more time with her family.
Calling her duties as a grandma “the best,” Bayles is looking forward to spending more time with her loved ones and taking a trip to Disney in November.
