After 33 years with St. Cloud Area School District, Principal Sheri Rutar from Clearview Elementary School is retiring. It isn’t the retirement she imagined. The remainder of the school year has presented its challenges with COVID-19 for Rutar and her team. It’s been quite the ride navigating distance learning while transitioning the hand-off to a new principal, Meredith Boucher. Still, these challenges can’t deter Rutar from her first and ultimate goal -to ensure children of all ages are educated.
At a young age, Rutar, her brother and sister would play school at home. Typically, Rutar was the teacher.
“When I think back,” says Rutar, “I was the neighborhood babysitter. My whole life I’ve been around kids of all ages and just truly thrived on it. When college came, it was just the path that I chose because it was what I knew best.”
Rutar graduated from Bemidji State University with her teaching degree. She was a substitute teacher in her hometown for the first few months after graduation. Her first teaching job was in St. Cloud Area School District at Clearview. She taught third and second grade students the first few years before moving on to fifth and sixth grade students. At that point, she obtained her Master’s degree (in 1991) from the University of St. Thomas and eventually earned her administrative degree from St. Cloud State University in 2000.
In 2000, Rutar became the assistant principal at Discovery Community School. At the time, it housed all the fifth and sixth grade students for the district. She saw through the transition of Discovery turning into a kindergarten through fifth grade school and then was moved to North Junior High School and South Junior High School for a year.
“It was quite the job,” explains Rutar. “It was a tough job being assistant principal for two middle schools. It was hard to create relationships with kids that needed relationships.”
After a year of being split between both middle schools, Rutar was situated at just North. By 2010, she became the principal at Clearview Elementary School.
“I started at Clearview and [I’m] ending at Clearview,” smiles Rutar.
Looking back on her career, Rutar says they (all age levels) had their own loves and challenges.
“I really loved all the different experiences I had,” says Rutar. “I loved the variety. I loved the unexpected with every single day.”
In her remaining months she’s really seen the unexpected. COVID-19 forced the world of education to merge with the world of technology in a profound way. Teachers in this new era have had to video record or audio record their lessons. They’ve had to be creative in spending one-on-one time with their students virtually, and Rutar has had to help navigate her staff and her students’ families through this significant change. However, she feels as though her staff and families have met the challenge and have risen above it.
“I just love the care and love that comes with being in a school,” shares Rutar. “They teach dependence and independence. I really love the people. I’ve met some of the most talented and caring people over my years.”
Now as Rutar looks to her future, she is excited for the next chapter.
She plans on helping Meredith Boucher, the incoming principal, over the summer months with the ins and outs of Clearview including touring neighborhoods. Then, once the transition is complete, she is anxious to spend time in Arizona. Her oldest and youngest children are both moving there for school and careers, while her mom already lives there. They are the best excuse to visit during Minnesota winters, especially for the golfing that both she and her husband love to do.
“My first plan is to go to Vegas to see my sister,” laughs Rutar. “Our plan is to go to the Rod Stewart concert, but we just don’t know! Plans may change.”
She and her husband intend to spend a lot of time with family. Though she is looking forward to it, she will definitely miss her Clearview family that she has come to love and know over the last 10 years.
Good luck and happy retirement!
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