At some schools without an assistant principal, crafting a master schedule, coordinating standardized testing, or addressing behavioral issues might all fall to the principal. At Loudon Elementary, they have come to rest on the shoulders of reading teacher Stephanie Pike.

Pike, who earlier this month wrapped up her eighth year at Loudon Elementary, has come to assume the role of “quasi-administrator,” said first-year principal Dave Bartlett.

When Barlett is out, Pike is on call. When he needs someone to bounce an idea off of, she is who he seeks out.

“She’s just such a team player and willing to do anything that’s going to help the school be better,” Bartlett said.

Pike is not the most veteran educator in the building, but she brings the rare background of having served as a principal and vice principal and principal previously, in Winnisquam and Derry, respectively. In 2016, motivated by a desire to spend more time with her twins, Pike transitioned back to a teaching position, but her skills as an administrator remained.

“When you’re in a leadership role like that, you still have those characteristics,” Pike said. “When you’re in an elementary school like this that’s a little bit smaller, there’s not always an assistant principal, and so you don’t have somebody to work with and collaborate with. So I think that was helpful to be able to be that person.”

Pike, a lifelong New Hampshire resident, knew early on that she wanted to teach. After growing up in the 1,000-person town of Wentworth and attending Plymouth High School, she obtained a degree in elementary education at Keene State University.

Pike’s first job was as a kindergarten teacher in Warren, where she began to grow particularly interested in teaching literacy.

“When I started to discover just how intricate that process is for teaching reading, I wanted to educate myself because I felt like I didn’t have enough knowledge,” Pike said. “So I started digging deeper into it and realizing how important that is as a teacher to be able to teach those skills to the young minds out there.”

Pike’s interest in literacy education eventually brought her from the small town of Warren to the “big” city of Nashua, where she took a position as a literacy coordinator in the public school district there.

At Loudon Elementary, her role as a reading teacher is somewhat similar. Working out of a “reading room” with three reading tutors, Pike starts her day by working individually with students across grades kindergarten through five who need additional support. The middle of the day involves 30-minute intervention groups with small groups of students at each grade level, followed by planning time in the afternoon.

Pike has come to see her approach to teaching reading as similar to that of a doctor.

“I look at it as almost like a diagnostic approach, like you would in the medical field: targeting and pinpointing where those holes are, and then coming up with a treatment plan that makes sense for them,” Pike said.
Because Pike works with students throughout their six years at Loudon Elementary, that treatment plan can actually come to fruition, which is the most rewarding part of the job for Pike.

“To be able to see kids actually break that code is a gift in itself,” she said. “To see that smile, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, all this work that I put in, I’m finally there, I’m doing it.’ ”

Outside of teaching reading and her unofficial administrative duties, Pike is seen as a leader in the building by other educators – and someone who isn’t above helping out no matter the task.

“She just steps into any position without question,” said first grade teacher Stephanie Roberge, Pike’s longtime colleague and classroom neighbor in the building.

Both Roberge and Pike described the Loudon Elementary staff as a team-focused bunch, an attribute that Pike embodies.

“If you need me to serve lunch, I’ll serve lunch today,” Pike said. “You need me to go in and clean a bathroom or you want me to handle a behavior issue? We’re all here for the benefit of the kids, so I don’t mind doing any of those things.”

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.