June 17, 2004

Teacher of the Month: Jan Whitlach,
Los Alamitos Elementary

By Miranda Schultz
Staff Writer

Jan Whitlach has taught first grade for 40 years. This year though, she will retire and end her impressive tenure in the San Jose Unified School District.

Whitlach began teaching in 1965 at Hacienda Elementary off of McKean Road, then moved on to Allen Randol Elementary for 20 years, and has been at Los Alamitos for 10 years.

“I never stopped playing school,” says Whitlach. “I knew I was born to be a teacher. The spontaneity, honesty, enthusiasm, happiness and newness of teaching first grade is undeniable. It engulfs your heart, mind and soul. The joys and rewards are intrinsic. Teaching a child to read and write, or solve a problem is a daily reward for me,” she says.

She grew up in Santa Paula, Calif., her mother was a housewife and her father was a banker. Out of the seven children in her family, three became teachers. Her father Thomas Riley was the president of the school board at Santa Paula High School, where she attended. She moved on to Ventura Junior College, then to San Jose State University.

Whitlach believes that communication is the key to all success in life, and considers it to be her number-one goal.

“I make myself available to parents on Saturdays and Sundays for conferencing or sharing progress or concerns,” she says. The parents of children in her class know what is going on in the classroom. That includes Jeanette Soe, mother of Sandra, who nominated Whitlach for Teacher of the Month. “She is the most amazing, wonderful, inspirational, dedicated, friendly, fun and kind teacher you could ever wish for. She simply loves to teach!” Soe says.

In her years teaching, Whitlach has received much recognition for her love of the profession. She received Teacher of the Year at Randol and Los Alamitos; was the 1981 SJUSD Teacher of the Year and the 1981 Santa Clara County Teacher of the Year; a 1982 California Teacher of the Year nominee; and the 1991 PTA National Teacher of the Year nominee.

Los Alamitos is a National Blue Ribbon School, and Whitlach was a writer for the application. She was able to go to Washington, D.C. to receive the award on behalf of her school. “I was so honored to be there.”

Whitlach has also implemented many programs at Los Alamitos. One of which, the Reading Intervention Lab, recently won the county school board’s Golden Bell Award and the Glenn Hoffmann Award for excellence in intervention reading. Whitlach started the program seven years ago with her partner Bea Macina. The program trains parent and community volunteers in early literacy techniques. First and second graders receive 30 minutes of one-on-one sequential reading support.

Whitlach also implemented Cross-Age tutoring. “I organize and train fifth graders to tutor first graders during their lunch hour in the spring. This has helped Los Alamitos with our goal, ‘Every Child a Reader.’”

Whitlach also introduced Lifeskills to Los Alamitos, a program that she started with another teacher, Anne Hines, and began at Randol Elementary. There are 18 Lifeskills emphasized throughout the year. “We encourage our students and adults to always do their personal best,” says Whitlach.

Jan’s Cans is a schoolwide recycling effort, where the whole school brings recycling items to school one day a year. “This year, we made $2,200 to support literacy and school-wide events,” she says.

Whitlach is known to be a kind and gentle teacher. A parent of a former student says that Whitlach is “The most amazing teacher I have ever encountered.”

She plans on doing some traveling with her husband Bob in her retirement. Although she already has a three-month substituting stint lined up for next year. “I’m weaning myself off of it!”

Whitlach’s last day of school was June 16. “I haven’t stopped going to school since I was 6-years-old. For 40 years, I’ve been going to school to teach. I love it more than anything and my last day is going to be very difficult.”