Utterback Middle School

Roberta is affectionally known throughout Utterback Middle School as Ms. Birdie. She came to Utterback Middle School half a decade ago when she moved from North Carolina to Tucson. She had always loved the Old Pueblo, so when the opportunity to move here came up, she jumped at the opportunity.  

She immediately connected with Utterback principal Taranika Sanders, who really wanted to get Roberta to be part of the Utterback staff. After a quick turnaround, that’s how Ms. Birdie came to be at the southside middle school. 

“The students are amazing, the faculty is amazing, and I think we have a good group here,” Roberta said. 

Grace is in her second year at Utterback Middle School. When Grace was working on her PhD program at the University of Arizona, she decided to conduct some research at Utterback. She was looking at culture relevant to teaching.  

As she was finishing her work, a position at Utterback opened up. After being the RTI last school year, Grace has now moved over to ELD. 
“I initially came to do my research, but fell in love with middle school,” Grace said. 

Grace previously taught at the K-5 level and some of the students she previously worked with are now with her at Utterback, which has been a pleasant surprise. 

Sports has always been Ira’s passion, but now he’s venturing into a different side of it. Ira played basketball, baseball and golf growing up and went on to play basketball at Fisher College. After graduating, he then played one season of pro ball in Europe. 

Now, he’s using his career as an athlete to help students as the girls and boys basketball coach and P.E. teacher at Utterback Middle School, where he’s been now for three years.  

“I’m able to talk to them about where they’re about to go, because that didn’t happen too long ago for me,” Ira said. “So, I can talk to them about where to go and just give them some things to think about, on the court and off the court.”