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Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Thurston Middle School Principal Mike Redmon presents Allison Sanders with a custom Bruins jersey, with the number 40 for her 40 years teaching in Westwood.
6-20-2025 12:05am
‘Doc’ Sanders Retiring After Decades Making Music at the Westwood Public Schools
Darlene Cancell
Editor
By Darcie Fisher for Westwood Public Schools
Allison Sanders – affectionately known as “Doc” by her colleagues and students at Westwood’s Thurston Middle School (TMS) – put down her baton for the last time this spring as the school’s music director, retiring after more than 40 years. The Norwood native admits music wasn’t really on her mind when she was growing up a few miles away from the school she would call home for four decades.
“I actually wanted to be a brain surgeon,” said Dr. Sanders. “Or I wanted to be in the Navy. It wasn’t until I hit the eighth grade that I started thinking about music and shared that with my parents.”
After graduating from Norwood High School, Dr. Sanders earned her bachelor’s and master’s degree from The University of Massachusetts Lowell. About a decade ago she received a doctorate from Boston University.
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Allison Sanders conducting at Thurston Middle School.Dr. Sanders’ teaching career began in the small town of Palmer, Massachusetts, where she taught elementary band and general music classes. She would start the elementary band program in Norfolk before being hired in Westwood. During her career with Westwood Public Schools, she taught elementary woodwind lessons and band, elementary general music, middle school band to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders and conducted the Jazz Band and Orchestra.
A clarinet player, she jokes that she “holds” the tenor sax. “I’m a terrible saxophone player,” said Dr. Sanders. “I can play most anything you blow into and push buttons on. I took violin lessons last summer to prepare for teaching orchestra.”
“Doc’s ability to get the best out of students musically and connect with students is something so special,” said TMS Principal Mike Redmon. “She has built strong relationships that last beyond high school. When Doc has been faced with a challenge, she has taken it on. When she has needed to design or learn something new, she has done it without hesitation.”
The camaraderie among colleagues is the aspect of her job she says she will miss the most as well as the “ah ha” moments she sees in her young students. “I just love the kids who are starting to get it,” said Dr. Sanders. “I also enjoy the performances when we put it all together. I use humor to try to motivate them. I try not to put too much pressure on them, but I do let them know that my standards are high.”
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. A group of Thurston Middle School educators surprised Dr. Sanders at a retirement party in her honor at a Bruins-Devils game.It’s well- known around TMS that Dr. Sanders is a huge Boston Bruins fan. As a farewell, she was surprised with a trip to watch her beloved B’s face-off against the New Jersey Devils, sitting alongside TMS principal Mike Redmon who is a Devils fan.
“Mike and I had always talked about going to a game,” said Dr. Sanders. “It was just the two of us, or so I thought. We had dinner and then went to the [Boston] Garden. We just kept walking and walking and I really wasn’t paying attention. All of a sudden, several teachers from school stood up and surprised me. They had these really cool t-shirts which said ’40 for 40 years’ and a custom Bruins jersey made with ‘Doc’ on the back. I was flabbergasted.”
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. A group of TMS educators surprised Dr. Sanders at a retirement party in her honor at a Bruins-Devils game.
An avid cyclist, Dr. Sanders has several trips planned, including one known as the “Maine Lighthouse Ride” where she will pedal along the coast to see nine different lighthouses. That will be followed by another biking trip in the fall to California. Sanders also hopes to be judging regional and state music competitions next spring.
Thanks to Darcie Fisher and Westwood Public Schools for contributing this article to Westwood Minute.
