Longtime Barnard Educator to Retire

By Katy Savage, Standard Staff
Anne Koop was frustrated when teachers couldn’t help her younger sister learn to read.
“I always wondered, ‘Well, why can’t they teach her?’” Koop said. “Why can’t teachers teach her how to read?”
Nobody called it a learning disability. This was the 1960s when special education was an emerging field.
“There just wasn’t a way for children with reading issues,” said Koop.
There wasn’t a way until 1975 when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act required public schools to provide special education. Koop was determined to learn all she could about it. She got her education degree in three years, working overtime so she could start helping children like her sister.
Koop, 67, is retiring at the end of this school year, her 27th year at Barnard Academy, first as a special educator and then as principal.
In her tenure, Koop has advocated for every child’s education with a helping hand. Her sister is always in the back of her mind. * Despite all the advances in special education, Koop never got a chance to know what disability prevented her sister, Lucy, from keeping up in school.
Lucy died at age 14 on their way to a horse show in Deerfield, New Hampshire.
Koop was 18 at the time and she was driving. Her boyfriend Norm was in the passenger seat and Koop’s sister was in the back with a friend.
Their horse trailer popped off that August day, swung around and hit the truck.
Koop found her sister, “my baby sister,” dead underneath the car, run over, she said.
“It’s one of those accidents that you don’t understand but you go through it and you either can become bitter or you can try to make a difference,” said Koop, who made it out of the accident unscathed. The accident “cemented even more, I wanted to make a difference in kids’ lives,” she said.
Koop became a devoted teacher: “one of the most dedicated, hardworking people I’ve ever met,” said Barnard Academy kindergarten teacher Ingrid Johnson.
Johnson has been at Barnard Academy since 1995 and has worked with Koop the entire time.
Former school board chair David Green said Koop made Barnard Academy a “special place.”
“Her loving care and attention to each and every child who attended the school made all the difference,” he said.
Koop set high expectations for her students and believed in each child’s ability to learn.
For the difficult ones she said caring, unconditional love and “really being there for them” gets a response.
“That’s Anne’s greatest strength. She’s such an encourager,” said friend Keith Tallon. “She looks for the best in people.
“She could be tired, she could be grieving — she never lets it interfere with her work,” he said. * Koop speaks about the accident matter-of-factly. She was one of six children. All of them rode horses.
Koop road hunter/jumpers while Lucy rode saddle seat. They bonded by going to horse shows and training together.
Koop was 18 and quickly became an adult after the accident. She went to college and married Norm a year later.
She and her husband grew closer in tragedy.
A year before Lucy died, Norm’s brother died in a rock climbing accident.
While Koop became an educator because of her loss, Norm became a minister because of his. Norm was reverend of the First Congregational Church in Woodstock before he died Oct. 7, 2015 at age 69.
Koop found him. They were married almost 47 years.
“Those trials make you even stronger because you’re together, grieving together,” said Koop. “You cling even more to each other. You do a lot more communicating about life and the importance of life.”
Koop said she’s thought about retiring for a couple years.
She said faith has gotten her through her losses. So has her commitment to helping others.
Koop said she’d come back to visit Barnard Academy.
“I’ll come back for all their performances,” she said.
She said she’d be there at soccer games and graduations and she’ll keep track of the students.
“I’m very proud of all them,” she said.

This article first appeared in the December 8, 2016 edition of the Vermont Standard.