Submitted photos

Harney County School District No. 3 board member Joe Wright presents certificates of appreciation to retiring teachers Karen Klus (left) and Linda Pelroy (right).

After lengthy and impactful careers in education, Karen Klus and Linda Pelroy are packing up their pencils. Both teachers retired from Slater Elementary School on June 2. Klus taught for 30 years, and Pelroy taught for 39. 

After teaching in North Lake (near Lakeview) from 1991-2003, Klus moved to Harney County, teaching fifth grade at Hines during the 2003-2004 school year. In the fall of 2004, the fifth graders were moved to Slater Elementary School, and Klus followed suit. She taught fifth grade for several years at Slater before switching to fourth grade. Klus finished out her career as a fourth grade teacher at Slater Elementary School. 

Pelroy began her teaching career in Arock (near Jordan Valley in Malheur County), where she taught first and second grade from 1983-1991 and served as head teacher from 1985-1991. 

Speed Perkins later persuaded Pelroy  to teach kindergarten though eighth grade at Double O Elementary School, which is located near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in rural Harney County. Pelroy taught at Double O Elementary from 1991-1998.

During her first few years there, she taught 18 students in seven different grades. Enrollment fluctuated throughout the years, but there were always at least eight students in multiple grades each year. Three of the children who Pelroy taught were her own. 

In the fall of 1998, Lydia Hayes asked Pelroy to teach a blended second and third grade class at Slater Elementary.

After teaching the blended class for several years, Pelroy taught third and first grade at Slater before moving to Hines in 2002 to teach fifth grade. 

In the fall of 2004, Pelroy, Klus, and the fifth graders made the move to Slater Elementary. Pelroy continued to teach fifth grade at Slater for the next 17 years. 

Pelroy and Klus said they will miss seeing their students and fellow teachers, but they both plan to embark on new journeys as they enter retirement.

Students and teachers might still see them this school year, as they both plan to do some substitute teaching for Harney County School District No. 3.

Please join us in wishing Klus and Pelroy well in their retirement and recognizing and thanking them for their years of service to Harney County’s students.