Starloe "Traveling Teacher" Galletta Still Walking

The Bradenton (FL) Herald has a 5 July 2007 article titled "Manatee teacher to walk the extra mile; Educator plans to talk her way around county neighborhoods to learn more about students" and written by Sylvia Lim. ("Manatee" refers to her location, not to her student!)

So, anyway, Starloe Galletta

"the Manatee schoolteacher walked 100 miles along the Appalachian Trail to clear her head, and now plans to walk the neighborhoods around every school in Manatee to meet the people of her home county.

"She dedicated the 100 miles on the trail in Virginia last month to teachers she knows. The countywide journey, which is set to begin Saturday, is for the district's students. Galletta says she wants to see where the district's students come from."

The head-clearing was necessary for a number of reasons, including the shooting of a 9-year-old by stray bullets nearby, and "partly fueled by frustration over the botched teachers contract negotiations that was mired in a deadlock for several months."

Now refreshed and re-focused, she is now walking through the neighborhoods, some of them sounding pretty tough, where her students come from, getting to know them better.