New year means new beginnings

As the calendar turns over and we welcome in a new year every Jan. 1, for most people it symbolizes a new beginning. It’s a time to dream new dreams, set new goals, or to take on a new challenge.

After 16 years at Aledo ISD, for Amy Slape the new year marks the start of a new adventure: Retirement.

“My plans are three-fold,” Slape said. “I have a grandbaby. She’s 18 months old. To me, that’s life. I want to be part of her life. I don’t know if that’s the main reason, but it really kind of is.

“The second reason is, I want to spend more time with my mom while I have her. And thirdly, my husband and I want to travel. We went to Paris and London last October for the first time, and the travel bug got us.”

DFW all through

While travel is a big part of her plans for retirement, Slape is a DFW girl through-and-through. Raised in Fort Worth, she graduated from Arlington Heights High School back in “nineteen-something-or-other.” After high school she went off to college at Texas A&M, but returned to DFW to work in hotels once her degree was finished. 

“When my husband and I first got married, we lived in Lewisville,” Slape recalled. “He was in the hotel business, too. We both decided to get out, because you need to be more flexible as far as where you’re going to live. Every three or four years, they want you to move to a different place.”

She spent a dozen years as a human resources director for hotels all over the Metroplex. She finished up her career working at a Hilton in Arlington and a Sheraton in Las Colinas. While she enjoyed the work, as her young family began to grow, she enjoyed being at home with her children much more.

Coming to Aledo

In 1996 they decided to move out of the city to a quiet, small town west of Fort Worth called Aledo. While her children attended school, Slape began to volunteer at the school. Sixteen years ago when her family purchased a new home on Crown Road that put her youngest child in the Weatherford ISD, she decided to interview for a job with Aledo schools.

“My youngest still had four more years until graduation,” Slape remembered. “When I interviewed, I said I just needed to be somewhere for four years. That turned into 16.

“My husband is retired. We both just want to have down time. I feel like my life has been on fast-forward. When I started here, it was at the middle school. I was there six years until I came to the administration office. 

“At the middle school I had, like, eight weeks off in the summer to kind of rejuvenate and get things done. Since then, the speed of the job has stayed the same, but while you get vacation time here, it’s not the same. I just want to have calm time with my husband and to sleep. I haven’t really slept in 16 years,” she joked.

What she’ll miss most

With her retirement officially underway and Dec. 20, as her last day on the books, there’s no question about what her favorite part of the job was, or what she’ll miss the most.

“Of course, everyone always says it’s the people, but it really is,” she said. “When I was a stay-at-home mom, Jane Dawson at the Methodist Church talked me into working at the preschool. I worked there for 11 years. 

“When I started at the middle school, I saw a lot of kids that I’d had at the preschool. That was the most heartwarming time. When I was at the middle school, and then I came here [to the administration office], a lot of the kids I had in middle school were graduating. That’s the most heartwarming thing, watching those kids grow up. People talk about it, but I really understood it once I was in the middle of it.

“I love the kids. When I first got the job at the middle school, and the middle school was the only thing open, I didn’t know how I would like being at the middle school. But after a month working there, you couldn’t have taken those kids away from me. I had office aides every period. They would come tell me their stories, or what they were upset about. I so looked forward to talking with them every day. It was great! And, I never knew that was something I would enjoy so much,” she added. 

Seeing a lot of changes

A lot has changed in this small town over the years Slape has worked with the district. When her family first moved to Aledo, there was a single elementary school housing kindergarten to second grade. There were just four campuses in the entire district. All these years later, Aledo has six elementary schools with plans to open a seventh in August 2024. 

“You see differences in the kids throughout the years, and differences in the parents,” she said. “That’s just growth. That goes with it. I think we still have that hometown feel, even though Aledo’s getting so big. 

“It’s because, as I said, I started seeing some of these kids when they were in preschool. Now they’re adults. Some of them work for the district. They’re having their own babies. That’s so rewarding! That’s one of the best things about the job.”