Lorri Saracini was a terrible student in high school — so much so that when the opportunity came for her to leave for half a day, she jumped at it.
Little did she know that would set the course for her entire life.
“There was a program where you could go to school for half a day and work in the kindergarten class half a day as an aide and get credit,” she said. “I started doing that with the most fabulous teacher ever put on this planet.
“To me, she was 80 years old, but she was probably the age I am now [61] — she was wonderful. She was the best teacher I have ever seen, even now. And I wanted to be just like her — I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.”
Saracini is a first-generation high school graduate, and she didn’t know anybody who had gone to college.
“I didn’t think people like me went to college,” Saracini said. “I thought only smart people went to college, and I knew that wasn’t me. That was just a dream, and I knew I could never do that.”
However, when she moved to Hot Springs, she started working at ABC Cleaners, and her boss’s wife was a teacher.
“The more I got to know her, the more I thought I could probably do that,” Saracini said. “She encouraged me, and I went home and told my husband, ‘I think I want to go to school and become a teacher.’ And he said, ‘OK,’ and put me through four years of college with very little money so I could be a kindergarten teacher.
“And that’s what I did for 16 years.”
Saracini was named the Hot Springs District Teacher of the Year in May.
“We couldn’t be more proud that Mrs. Saracini from our Gardner STEM Magnet School was selected for our highest honor this year,” said Stephanie Nehus, Hot Springs School District superintendent.
“With more than 35 years in our district, she has made an outstanding impact because of her dedication to changing lives by changing attitudes and building relationships,” Nehus said.
“Mrs. Saracini is an elementary-math expert. She leads her students by having high expectations of each child, and they truly grow under her discipline and genuine care and concern. Our district is a better place because of educators like Mrs. Saracini,” Nehus said.
“It was a big surprise, a very big surprise,” Saracini said of the award. “I know the other teachers were amazing, even the teachers in my building. I was surprised to be chosen because there are so many good teachers.
“While I feel like I am one of them, I don’t feel like I am the best of them. Maybe they felt sorry for me because I have been doing it for so long.
“It was an honor because there are so many good teachers in the district.”
Saracini said she loves making a difference in students’ lives by changing their attitude about school, about learning — math, in particular — or by exposing them to something they might not know anything about.
“I care about our kids,” Saracini said. “I care that all of our kids have a good math education. Even if I don’t see them, I’m always helping our teachers be better so that all of our kids can benefit.
“I’ve done a lot of state training in math, and I train teachers in different math strategies and different ways kids think about math. I know a couple of teachers who wrote reference letters [for the award], and one of the things they said is that I am always helpful, and I am always helping them.”
Saracini earned an Associate of Arts degree from Garland Community College in Hot Springs, now National Park College, in 1979 and a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1981. She completed a master’s degree in educational theory and practice in 2012 at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
“I literally went to 13 schools from kindergarten to the 12th grade,” Saracini said. “Some of that was the natural progression from middle school to high school, but I went to three high schools, and one of them, I went to twice.
“My parents were gypsies. Besides my dad being in the military, they just liked to move. I went to three high schools in California.”
Saracini was 17 years old when she graduated from high school. Her dad retired from the military, and she and her family moved to Missouri.
“I was only in Missouri for a week before I decided I wasn’t going to live in that God-forsaken place,” she said. “I decided I was going back to California, so I got a job and started making money for my airplane ticket back home.
“But then I met a boy, and that’s now my husband, Tom, and we have been married for 43 years. … I never made it back to California.”
Saracini has been with the district for 37 years and is currently a math interventionist for Gardner STEM Magnet School. She works with students who need extra help in math, who may not have scored as high as their teachers would have liked them to on the previous year’s test. Saracini also sometimes works with ESL students to help them with their vocabulary.
Utana Newborn, the principal at Gardner STEM Magnet School, has been with the district for 12 years but has only been the principal at Gardner for a year.
“When I first started here, her name was out there as one of the best teachers in the district,” Newborn said. “I was at a different school, but in my particular building, her name was always out there as one of the best.
“And after 11 years of service to the district, I became the principal of Gardner. I was very excited to work with Mrs. Saracini.”
Newborn said she knew Saracini had a math club and assumed it focused on higher levels and worked with students and a team.
“I soon realized that wasn’t what it was at all,” Newborn said. “She works with students who were behind and helped them meet the standards that they should know at their grade or age.
“She made it really fun to come learn about math, because some of them don’t even realize they are behind. She does a lot of things that are so hands-on, and they are actually learning. She makes it fun.”
Saracini is now an Arkansas trainer for Cognitively Guided Instruction for Mathematics.
“When I got there and was allowed to think about math however I wanted and make sense of it on my own, I became very good at math,” she said. “I don’t use a standard algorithm because I don’t know it.
“But I have an understanding of numbers, and I want my students to understand math. I don’t want them to just do math. There is a difference between understanding math and doing math. … I’m pretty passionate about students really understanding the math. They have the time to learn the algorithm and those shortcuts, but first they need to understand it.”
Newborn said Saracini is a very humble person.
“She feels like every day is normal. She doesn’t see that she goes above and beyond,” Newborn said. “She is providing so much for our kids and our school and the district.
“I am so excited for her.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.