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"Aunt Jane always told us when we were growing up 'to do the right thing and make us proud of you,'" said Jay Coward, a Sylva attorney. "She always backed that up by her own example. She has devoted her entire professional life to supporting education, first as a teacher, then as an administrator, throughout her career as a volunteer and now as a school board member.
"We can think of no better way to honor her than a scholarship that will continue to benefit other teachers right here in this county for many years to come. We are proud of her," he said.
A Jackson County native, Dillard is a graduate of Western Carolina University. She began her teaching career in 1942 in Haywood County and transferred to Jackson County the following year. A fourth-grade teacher at Savannah School for more than 20 years, Dillard served on the planning committee for Fairview Elementary School. She supervised Teacher Corps interns and later served as the county's elementary supervisor.
Dillard was assistant superintendent for Jackson County Schools at the time of her retirement in 1989 and has been a member of the Jackson County Board of Education since 1992, serving as chairman from 1994-1998. She is also a board member of the N.C. School Board Association, a post she was elected to in 1996.
During the years between her retirement and her election to the school board, Dillard taught GED classes at Southwestern Community College.
"I loved that," she said. "It was challenging, and I got to teach again."
Dillard said she planned to be a teacher from childhood.
"I always wanted to be a teacher," she said. "When I was a child, I played 'school' with all the children in the neighborhood."
As a music teacher in Haywood County in 1942, Dillard "fell in love" with the profession, she said.
"I really had to think hard when I left the classroom to become a supervisor," Dillard said. "I had to decide if I could do as much for teachers as for students."
Dillard has seen numerous changes in elementary classrooms during her years in education.
"I started out with 42 kids in one classroom, a grade 4-5 combination," Dillard said. "I had no assistant, no P.E. teacher and no music or art teacher. I pulled an old piano into my room. When the students lost interest in their lessons, I'd go to the piano, and we'd sing."
The additional support that classroom teachers now have helps everyone, Dillard said, especially students. While teachers are not necessarily more dedicated, they do have more opportunities to become knowledgeable about their profession through staff development.
"Back when I began you had to be an innovator yourself," Dillard said. "Now there's lots of ways to help teachers." Team teaching and interns offer support to classroom teachers, she said, and teachers today always have someone to help, and that means they can do a better job.
Looking back over her career, Dillard said she found her years in the classroom the most enjoyable, her time as an elementary supervisor the most challenging and helping high school dropouts attain their GEDs the most rewarding.
With regard to her years on the school board, Dillard said there are many rewards, such as "knowing you're helping children and helping to plan the future." However, she said, a drawback to being a school board member is that "you see all the problems in every facet of the school system."
All in all, Dillard said, her years in education have been a source of immense satisfaction.
"I worked with the public schools for 47 years and have been involved with education for 58 years," she said. "I'm still at it. I still love school, love kids and love teachers."
Dillard said she is "overwhelmed" by having a scholarship named for her and expressed gratitude to her nephew and his wife for creating the scholarship in her honor.
Scholarship funds will be used to cover expenses for teachers to participate in NCCAT residential seminars, including the cost for substitute teacher pay while the teachers are away from the classroom. It will also provide a $250 cash award for the teacher to use in his or her classroom. The Dillard Scholarship is among several NCCAT scholarships established to honor outstanding educators and enable NCCAT to serve more teachers than the state-appropriated budget allows.
Contributions to the Dillard Scholarship are currently being accepted by the Development Foundation of NCCAT, 276 NCCAT Drive, Cullowhee, N.C. 28723-9062. For more information, call Gracia Slater, director of development, at 293-5202.
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