2011 - Regional Teacher of the Year - Ron Scutt

Ron teaches 1st – 8th grade at the Stehekin School; a position he has held for the past 34 years.



Because Stehekin is a one room school, Ron has become a master at creating thematic interdisciplinary units that engage all of his students’ senses and keep them engaged over a period of years – a student who enters 1st grade at Stehekin will be in Ron’s ‘class’ for eight years.



After 34 years, Ron’s pure joy in his work is undiminished.Visitors to Stehekin School have the rare opportunity to observe students at multiple levels working together around a particular subject or theme. Young students are encouraged as they read aloud their first poem by older students who are learning to become compassionate leaders.



Ron is widely respected as an expert in implementing developmentally appropriate classroom activity. He believes strongly in “teaching to the hands and feet,” as they say in Stehekin, and is passionate about incorporating artistic and physical activity into the more traditional academic disciplines. Knitting, calligraphy and even juggling are seamless woven into the school day at Stehekin as Ron carefully gauges the intellectual development of each student and provides them with tactile activities to support their own maturation process.



Ron has embraced the gifts of his remote community. He is the editor and publisher of the local newpaper, president of the Stehekin Heritage organization and emcee for Stehekin’s annual Trillium Festival. Outside of Stehekin, Ron spent 8 years on the Professional Educator Standards board (he was an inaugural member) and has traveled the country to teach other educators lessons he has learned about education, children and community in Stehekin. Lessons that transcend his small community.



Like Stehekin, Ron is an original. His former ESD Superintendent Gene Sharratt confirms: “There is only one Ron. Ron is a model of teaching excellence and exceptional classroom instruction. It has been my personal and professional privilege to observe Ron over the past two decades. He continually reaffirms my respect for the power of learning and the significance of exemplary classroom teaching. His impact on students is immediate, his legacy profound.”