Public Education Matters

Education is a family business for many of Ohio's dedicated teachers, education support professionals, and higher ed faculty members. In Part 2 of our special "A Legacy of Education" season, we meet a mother-daughter duo in Northwest Ohio who share an important teaching philosophy: People first.

• Sandra Dowdy, Lincolnview Schools
  • Sandra Dowdy lives in Van Wert, Ohio. She been married to her husband, Daryl, for 30 years.  They met at Bluffton University where she earned my teaching degree. She has two children who are both educators! Calista is an intervention specialist at Allen East and Justis teaches strength and conditioning along with physical education at Lima Senior. This is her 29th year teaching at Lincolnview Schools. She began as a high school Spanish teacher, then eight years later moved into a junior high math position, and for the past seven years, she has been a junior high language arts teacher. "Teaching is not a job to me," Dowdy says. "It's a privilege to be trusted each day to interact with my students and to be an influence on their lives."
• Calista Altenburger, Allen East Schools
  • Calista Altenburger is a 3rd Grade Intervention Specialist at Allen East Schools, where she is in her second year of teaching. She earned her master's degree in Special Education through BGSU. She also worked for three years at the Hancock County board of Developmental Disabilities as case manager for SSA, and she worked for two years as a Job Developer with Capabilities in collaboration with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities.

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• The Ohio Education Association represents about 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.
• Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May, 2020, after a ten-year career as a television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband and two young children.