Horseshoe Bend School teacher celebrating 25 years of teaching in her hometown

NEW SITE, Ala. (WSFA) - Cindy Jackson, known as Mrs. Cindy, is a familiar face in the halls of Horseshoe Bend School and in this community. The New Site High School graduate has been teaching at Horseshoe Bend School for 25 years, her entire career and doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

“This is the only school I ever taught at,” Jackson said “I live like half a mile this way and grew up two miles that way. I get asked all the time if I’m ready to retire and I’m not.”

The 5th-grade math teacher originally got her degree in computer programming and quickly realized she wanted to be with her children and surrounded by other children. She said she knew she was called to be an educator.

“I was in an office space, and I just got tired of it,” Jackson said. “That’s just not what I wanted to do.”

Now, she’s doing what she loves every day at a school she loves in her hometown. Cindy Jackson says there’s no place like New Site.

“Some people call it a culture shock when they come from a big city to here, but it’s just the way things are. Everybody’s welcome, and everybody knows everybody. It’s just a great place to be. There are really no words to describe it. I wouldn’t live anywhere else,” Jackson said.

The longtime educator said she wouldn’t live anywhere else and she wouldn’t want to spend her days with anyone else. Her students are special to her, all of them.

“I truly love all my kids. They go me through hard places in my life, and they were there for easy happy times,” Jackson added, “even after they graduate, they’re still my kids.”

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