Sally Duris has impacted students at D-86 in Joliet for 36 years

Sally Duris of Channahon was certain she never wanted to teach kindergarten and she avoided it for most of her 36 years at Joliet Public Schools District 86.

But Duris has taught kindergarten for 12 years now. And she loves it.

“A lot of them [kindergarteners] come in scared and alone and missing Mom and I thought it was a little bit scary,” Duris said. “I’d see kindergarten teachers at the beginning of the year looking a little bit frazzled and I thought, ‘I don’t know if this is something I would want to do.’ When I got put into kindergarten, I said, ‘Oh, man here I go.’ But I found it’s an extremely rewarding place to me.”

Duris feels kindergarteners experience many changes during the school years and it’s gratifying to be part of their growth. She helps students get through those first days with hugs (pre-COVID-19), a stuffed animal, pairing them with buddies and plenty of reassurances that they will go home and Mom will still be there.

“I felt the same way when I went to kindergarten, albeit it was a very long time ago, and that everybody else at the school felt the same way when they went into kindergarten,” Duris said she tells her students. “And we all made it through and it was OK and it will be fine.”

Born and raised in Joliet, Duris attended the former Raynor Park School, Hufford Junior High, Joliet Central High School, Joliet Junior College and the College of St. Francis (now University of St. Francis) in Joliet. She has spent her entire teaching career at District 86 and has taught every grade except fourth.

“I was just never put into fourth,” she said.

Studying to be an X-ray technician is what led Duris to education. Duris was studying X-ray technology when she discovered she liked working with the children who needed X-rays more than the technology itself.

Duris recalled her apprehension when she told her parents, “I don’t want to do this the rest of my life. I want to be a teacher,” because they had paid for her X-ray technician training. Although Duris initially applied to other districts, she ultimately found her teaching home at District 86.

She started at Cunningham Elementary and then went to Woodland Elementary and then to the former Eliza Kelly Elementary for 13 years, until it closed, she said. Duris called Eliza Kelly “a wonderful school” and was sad to leave it.

“It had great staff, great kids, great families: I loved that school and I am still in contact with some of the students I had way back then,” Duris said. “It was a great place to work. If it was still open, I’d still be there.”

Duris and many other Eliza Kelly teachers moved to Woodland, Duris said. That was 17 years ago, she said. Woodland is now her home, her family, she said.

“I love it here now just as much as I did over there,” Duris said. “The staff here are wonderful as are the kids and the families. I don’t think of my job as a job, really. I meant, it’s a job. I get a paycheck, so I guess it’s a job. But it’s not really work because I could not do it for 36 years if I did not like it. I could have already retired.”

How will Duris know it’s time to retire? Perhaps when she no longer loves teaching or “when somebody tells me I’m not doing a good job anymore,” Duris said.

For now, Duris’ students are keeping her young. They make her smile every day. And they are not afraid to try something new, which inspires Duris to do likewise.

“That’s the one thing that hasn’t changed over 36 years,” Duris said. “I loved the kids 36 years ago and still do.”