THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601180130
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
It had been 18 years since Susan Horton and Melleasenah Rountree had worked together in the classroom, but they're back at it, this time in quite different roles and a different school.
They first met when Horton was a third-grade teacher at Newtown Road Elementary School and the then-Melleasenah Williams was one of her students.
``Melley was strong, a hard worker as a third-grader,'' said Horton, principal at Hermitage Elementary School. ``You could see that. And it's still true.''
Horton should know. She is Rountree's boss. The hard-working student is now 26, all grown up and teaching fourth-graders at Hermitage.
The school holds another special irony for Rountree.
Her grandmother, Margaret Johnson, taught at Hermitage almost 40 years ago and was a trailblazer of sorts.
``My grandmother was one of the first African-American teachers when the local schools were integrated in the late '50s,'' said Rountree.
Johnson, now 79, retired in 1981 and is still going strong, said her granddaughter.
``She looks good, much younger than her age,'' Rountree said.
Teaching runs in the family. Rountree's mother, Alicia Williams, teaches at Princess Anne High School.
Rountree's return to the classroom, however, was heavily influenced by Horton and a chance meeting long after they'd lost touch with one another.
Rountree made honor-roll grades and ran track at Bayside High School. She received an athletic scholarship to Hampton University, where she justified that institution's faith in her by becoming an All-American as a 55- and 100-meter hurdler and outstanding student. She graduated in 1991, completing her accounting degree in four years.
While there, she met another track star at Hampton, Gregory Rountree, and they married. He teaches math and coaches track at Lakeland High School in Suffolk.
A fortuitous meeting led to the Horton/Rountree reunion. Rountree was working in the school system's personnel office in the municipal center. When Horton dropped by on another matter, the two women spotted each other and started catching up on 17 years of news and memories.
``I remembered reading about her running track at Bayside,'' said Horton.
Rountree was finishing 30 hours of courses at Norfolk State University to gain certification as a teacher.
``I had taken classes to teach middle school, but I decided to teach at the elementary level,'' said Rountree. She did eight weeks of student teaching at Newtown Road; eight at Hermitage.
Horton decided that she wanted her once-star pupil to teach Hermitage students full time. Horton hired her former student and Rountree began teaching classes in September 1994. She also is coaching the girls hurdlers on the Salem High School track team.
The mutual admiration and bond between the two women grows.
``Ms. Horton made the class. She had an exciting, hands-on method that I've tried to bring to my classroom,'' said Rountree.
``Melley has done an excellent job,'' said Horton. ``I knew she would.'' ILLUSTRATION: Melleasenah Rountree, left, a former third-grade student of
Susan Horton's at Newtown Road Elementary, is now a fourth-grade
teacher for Horton, who is now principal at Hermitage Elementary.
Staff photo by
STEVE EARLEY
by CNB