Lovell teacher Stacy O’Tremba retiring to be near family

Her first teaching job out of Dickinson College in North Dakota was in a one-room schoolhouse in Moon Creek, Montana, where she was responsible for teaching a small group of students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.

Stacy O’Tremba said she learned a lot in that little schoolhouse, including how to stay organized and how to develop lesson plans for different grade levels, while at the same time answering the phone, changing light bulbs or doing whatever else needed to be done.

“I was 25 miles out of Miles City in a one-room schoolhouse,” she explained. “I taught there for two years. My first year I had about a dozen students, and my second year it went up to about 14. We were one of the larger schools in that area. That’s when I started my career. I needed another country schoolteacher to mentor me, because I didn’t know how to lesson plan for that situation. It was a challenge. You are with these kids all day, and you are also the custodian and the secretary, and you’re on lunch duty and recess duty. There is literally no one else out there to help.”

O’Tremba said she attributes the development of her organizational skills to that teaching experience.

“When I later took a teaching position in town (Miles City) I really appreciated that someone else did some of these other things, like answering the phone,” she said.

O’Tremba met and married her husband, Scott, in Montana. He was teaching in Miles City around the same time. The couple plans to move to Colstrip this summer, which is near Miles City, taking them full circle in their travels as a couple, having made stops in Kemmerer, Lovell and Alaska along the way. 

“I met and married Scott in Montana, moved to Alaska for five years, then went down to Kemmerer, Wyoming, before coming here to Lovell,” she said.

The O’Trembas moved to Lovell in 2006, but Stacy didn’t start working in the school district until her two daughters Tiana and Bethany were well on their way in their education. She said she felt lucky that she was able to stay home with her daughters during their early formative years.

O’Tremba got back into the workforce when she began substitute teaching and tutoring in the year 2010.

“I was just getting my big toe wet in the district in 2010 to 2013, when I was offered the Tier II teaching position,” she explained. “Mrs. Monk wanted me to help with before and after school tutoring, and I ran that, which was going really well. That evolved into the Tier II position.”

Working under curriculum director Nancy Cerroni, O’Tremba found working in the Tier II program very rewarding.

She said one of the high points of her career was in the Tier II coordinator position for the school district in Lovell, helping at-risk students by teaching them organizational skills for greater success during their education.

“I loved doing that job,” she said. “I didn’t even know jobs like that existed.”

O’Tremba taught the program for four years. She said she was shocked every time she got a paycheck because the job didn’t feel like work at all and was so much fun.

“I loved the variety of working in the mornings at the middle school and in the afternoons at the high school,” she said.

When the Tier II program was discontinued, O’Tremba took a position teaching fourth grade at Lovell Elementary School in 2017, where she has remained for the last seven years.

O’Tremba is originally from a small town, Hebron, North Dakota, known as “the brick city” because of a clay brick plant located in the town. Being from a small town, she felt right at home in Lovell.

Looking back on her career in teaching, O’Tremba said the most rewarding part of the job was helping students find the best version of themselves.

She said when the family moved to Lovell 18 years ago, it was not a stepping stone. 

“We always planned to stay here,” she said. “It’s going to be hard to step away.”

O’Tremba has two grandchildren, one aged 2 years and the other six months. She looks forward to moving closer to her grandchildren and her daughter Tiana and husband Tanner, who live in Colstrip. O’Tremba’s other daughter, Bethany, is a college student in Billings.

“I tell people I’m leaving for higher pay, which is hugs and kisses from my grandchildren,” said O’Tremba. “I always wanted my mom to live in the same city where I was raising my children. As it turned out, she didn’t even live in the same state. So, for me to have this opportunity to be near my grandchildren is great, and I’m going to jump on it. For me, that is the dream, being a full-time grandma.”

O’Tremba’s husband of 31 years, Scott, will be starting a new job in Colstrip as superintendent in the school district when the couple moves back to Montana this summer.