Inspiring learning for more than 20 years

OVANDO – "I love having the ability to affect students' lives," Ovando teacher Leigh Ann Valiton said. "I don't care what affiliation, wherever your families' beliefs are, I want you to understand the facts. I just like it when I see the light bulb go off. That is the best gift of teaching."

After working at Ovando School more than 20 years, Valiton retired this spring from teaching. While she will maintain her position as chair of the school board and hopes to continue helping when needed, she is shifting her focus to her family business the Blackfoot Commercial Company and other community opportunities.

Valiton grew up in south Texas. Her father was bilingual and they spoke Spanish in the household. All the women in her family were teachers. Her mother taught for 37 years and both of her grandmothers taught for 40 years.

"I've always wanted to do it," Valiton said. "It just finally worked out."

In 1992, Valiton moved to Ovando with her husband Fred who was a long-haul truck driver. At the time, Ovando School had 42 students and needed extra help. She started working as an aid in October 1992 and continued until 2000.

In September 2001, Valiton started school at the University of Montana. She student taught in Fernley, Nevada and graduated in 2005 with a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education with a concentration in Spanish.

"I thought, oh my goodness, I'm 45 years old and I needed to get some kind of retirement behind me," Valiton said.

She returned to Fernley to teach at a school with 900 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. She worked there for two years before returning home to Ovando.

"I really liked the small school," Valiton said. "It is just way more intimate in a two-room school. I'm really glad I came back."

Valiton started teaching at Ovando School in 2007. By 2009 she was the supervising teacher.

Valiton primarily worked in the "big room" with the older students. She said she never wanted to change children but instead empower them with information and facts. She appreciated the opportunity to work with students for multiple years because it allowed her to better understand her students' personalities.

"Obviously not everyone learns the same. Sometimes a year isn't long enough to get that and then there are things that are missed and that is unfortunate," Valiton said. "Especially in an elementary setting, it is real important to get those foundations so they are imbedded into their heads."

Along with her love of teaching math, social studies and Spanish, Valiton said starting the Montana History Trip and going to Washington D.C. in 2018 were career highlights.

The idea for the weeklong, school-wide Montana History Trip was an idea inspired by Linda Hugulet, Valiton's mentor and Ovando School teacher for around 27 years. The first year they visited Virginia City, Bannack State Park and Lewis and Clark Caverns.

"It worked so well it became a tradition," Valiton said. "Every year they do something."

The students fundraise so there is no out of pocket expense and everyone can participate. They rent a van and the school staff chaperone. They have gone as far east as Billings and north to Havre.

"I feel it is important to know where you live and far better to learn Montana history by seeing it and experiencing it," Valiton said. "It just sticks with them, which is what, as teachers, we want. We want to have some meaning, it is not just a bunch of information that they regurgitate."

In 2018, Valiton and aide Maxine Taylor along with Iris Swanberg, Macy Williams and Sadie Smith from the "big room" visited Washington, D.C. after raising $12,000 in an estate auction at the school. They met with Senator Jon Tester and took every opportunity possible in the nine-day trip including visiting an aquarium in Baltimore.

"It was a very unusual [and meaningful] experience for people that age and from rural Montana. It was absolutely amazing," Valiton said. "They were so appreciative of it. They understood the importance of what we were showing them and how it affected their lives and history. Those kids absolutely loved it."

Valiton also enjoys the Christmas Play and May Day Tea productions every year. The May Day Tea grew out of a Mother's Day Tea in the 1980s into a family event showcasing the students and what they had learned in a pageant.

"We do quite elaborate things. It's fun, dance and music and showing so much of how the Ovando School Cultural Enrichment Committee supports us. Without them there is no way we could do three-fourths of what we do in the arts or travels or anything."

Valiton enjoyed teaching math, social studies and Spanish to the students throughout the years.

"I'm a big advocate of learning a different language," Valiton said. "The majority of people that speak a different language in the United States speak Spanish. You don't know when you are going to use that and it would really be an advantage if you at least have some foundational vocabulary and understanding of how the language works. It may also spark an interest somewhere in a kid that didn't know it even existed."

Teaching the common core has been a big change in Valiton's career. She was the last class to graduate UM without being taught the common core. While there are things she appreciates about it, she thinks there is too much emphasis placed on requiring students to have a complete understanding of specific topics within a designate time versus increasing the exposure to encompass a larger subject area and developing skills over time.

She has seen success in her methods after Swanberg, Williams and Smith all were able to skip algebra in high school and go right to geometry because of their understanding of math. Others have done the same.

"If the ability is there, it can be harnessed and they can go further and further," Valiton said. "I've taught sophomore geometry to eighth grade students because I can, because of where we are. I know you can't do that in a bigger school but if that is where those kids are, I don't think we should hold them back. I really don't [even though] I know it is hard for the teacher."

Teaching all the different subjects to the different grades was Valiton's biggest challenge when she started teaching in Ovando.

"That is when you learn to teach all-inclusive when your social studies and your science work together and your writing is about your social studies group. That is where you kind of get more in-depth and you hit every core subject," Valiton said. "Everyone has their different way of doing things and every teacher has their expertise in something."

Technology has been a big challenge throughout her career because she said it is not innate. Ovando is also remote so it never worked like it was supposed to and it wasn't easy. Despite the frustrations, Valiton recognized the importance of technology as a tool for everyday life and relied on teacher Andrea Tougas and the students to help her.

Valiton enjoyed collaborating with the teachers in Helmville and Toni Hatten at Sunset School, appreciated the school board's support, loved working with the community and watching the students excel. Valiton planned to retire at the end of 2020 but she didn't want to leave during COVID.

"It felt like a cop-out. There are too many variables that could happen with everything. I just didn't want to do that to Andrea, number one, and number two to the kids," Valiton said. "I was glad that I could go back and say this is it. I had a positive year teaching math and Spanish."

Now Valiton will continue working with Fred at the Blackfoot Commercial Company, working at the Stray Bullet five days a week and continuing to a be an active member of the community. Even though she is still the chair of the school board, she will miss hanging out and joking with the students every day.

"I don't think that I could have ever gone this long working in any other school. It has just been amazing," Valiton said. "I love that I had a part in [the students'] lives."