When June Mallon’s retirement reception began on May 16 at the Jonesburg Elementary School cafeteria, the first thing she did was open up a 172-page book from students wishing her all of the best in her retirement.

“It was so sweet with what all of the kids wrote,” Mallon said.

Mallon retired after 25 years with the Montgomery County R-II School District. She spent the last eight years as instructional coach at JBE.

“Our school board has people who really care about our district,” Mallon said. “Our principal really cares about our kids. It’s a good place to work. It’s very community oriented. Here in this building, all of the teachers really work together. It’s a ‘we’ situation. We’re a team.”

Mallon said seeing students running down the hall to greet her every day is something she is going to miss at JBE.

“There’s nothing better than seeing the kids so happy to see you,” Mallon said. “They just want to come running and give you a hug.”

Now that she has retired, Mallon is going to spend more time visiting her granddaughter, Bailey, and working on plants. She received a plant during her 90-minute retirement reception.

“I have a list of about 10 or 11 things that I want to do in my retirement, so I won’t be bored,” Mallon said. “I’ll have plenty of activities.”

Mallon said she will also be working on children’s books.

“I have some children’s books that I seriously started sculpting out, so I need to have time to sit down and finish them to help kids learn how to read and see how I could make that available to everybody,” Mallon said. “It seems like a lot of our books that we teach kids with are books that schools have access to, but not the general public.”

Originally from Washington in Franklin County, Mallon moved to Montgomery County in 1998. She and her family lived on Highway F.

“When I first moved here, I was teaching at Jonesburg for a little bit,” said Mallon, who also taught three years of kindergarten at the Meramec Valley R-III School District. “Then, I stayed home with my boys because they were babies. Then, I started doing Parents as Teachers with Barb Welschmeyer for three years in the district. I went to Montgomery and taught kindergarten, first grade and fourth grade. Then, I came over here (to Jonesburg) eight years ago and I’ve been an instructional coach ever since. It’s been great.”

Mallon’s roles as instructional coach were working with the teachers and providing professional development. Alayna Parmalee, a third-grade teacher at JBE, will take Mallon’s place for the 2023-24 school year.

“She has the training and college degrees to do it,” Mallon said. “She has the heart and good personality to make that happen, so I’m very happy that she will be the one taking over the job.”

Mallon was recognized at a board meeting on May 11 and at the Jonesburg Elementary 5th Grade Celebration on May 22.

Another R-II employee who retired after the school year was Karen Ray. She worked over 15 years as a special education paraprofessional.