Henrico's Top Teachers – Karen Dash, Crestview Elementary School

From her days as a child arranging dolls to play school, or doing so with neighborhood friends, there was never much doubt about the career path Karen Dash would follow.

Teaching came naturally to her then and was her focus in college at William & Mary, from which she graduated in 1989 before accepting a position at Clover Hill Elementary School in Chesterfield. Four years later, though, a desire to raise children of her own called her out of the classroom, and she spent the next 15 years home with three children.

“I didn’t know if I’d ever go back,” she said. But gradually, the call to return became stronger and stronger.

First, she organized a preschool program from her home, then taught half-day kindergartners during the other half of the day as part of an enrichment program with a curriculum she developed. Finally, in 2008, she returned to the classroom on a part-time basis as a substitute teacher at Crestview Elementary School. Shortly thereafter, she accepted a full-time position at the school, where she’s been ever since.

“I started substituting and was like, ‘Am I ready to go back full-time? I’m not sure.’ If I hadn’t found Crestview, I’m not sure if I would have gone back or not.”

This is her seventh year as a kindergarten teacher at the school; she’s never taught a grade level above first in her career.

“That’s my love – pre-K and kindergarten,” she said. “Just the joy – there’s so much excitement and joy about learning. It’s new, they come to school so happy and excited. And the change that they make, it’s incredible to watch from September to June the transformation.”

Dash also enjoys connections with young families and helping them navigate the transition to elementary school, a role that allows her an annual chance to revisit her own early days of motherhood.

A parent nominator praised the way Dash builds relationships with families, making herself available by phone anytime, visiting homes and daycares to provide students with supplies they need and even offering “office hours” to meet with families.

“She teaches the whole child and helps families understand how critical it is to be involved in a child’s education,” the parent wrote. “Her warm, kind personality allows everyone to fall in love with her! My son smiles all the time when he’s learning from her!”

The pandemic has created many challenges for teachers, Dash said, but so too does every school year.

“No two years look the same,” she said. “Just by nature, teachers, we’re problem-solvers. We rise to the occasion. We look at it and say, ‘Alright, what do we need to do? What do these kids need?’”

Dash praised the efforts of the kindergarten team at Crestview, which collaborated during the summer to create plans for virtual learning.

“We learned things we never would have learned before,” she said. “All summer we were thinking, ‘How do we start the year with 5-year-olds we’ve never even met? We were surprised at how quickly we did build relationships. It was 13 little faces on the screen, but I was surprised how quickly it really did feel like a class.”

One student even remained in Dash’s class and has consistently logged on for each day of learning from South Korea, where his family moved temporarily when a parent was transferred there for several months.

“It’s a 14-hour time difference,” Dash said, “but that student joins us every day, switched his days and nights in order to participate.” The family is returning to Virginia soon, she said.

Parents have noticed the sense of community in the class, too.

“Since her relationship with her students were incredibly strong, students were able to adapt to all the significant changes of this ever changing year,” Dash’s nominator wrote. “These kindergartners felt the love the entire time and have progressed tremendously. She also allowed her students to have time to just talk about things that they liked and gave them an opportunity to really feel that they were a part of a class family. I wouldn’t have wanted any other teacher for my son during this pandemic.”