Dean Weaver, who was superintendent of Riceville schools from 1972 to 1979, thought Elliott was an outstanding teacher who did things differently and made other teachers envious of her success. Ex-principal Steve Harnack commented she was excellent at teaching academics and suggested she would have had fewer problems with the community if she had involved parents.<ref name="Bloom"/> Elliott's former colleague Ruth Setka said: "I think third grade was too young for what she did. Junior high, maybe. Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. And what she did caused an uproar. Everyone's tired of her. I'm tired of hearing about her and her experiment and how everyone here is a racist. That's not true. Let's just move on."<ref name="Bloom"/>
"I think third grade was too young for what she did. Junior high, maybe. Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. And what she did caused an uproar. Everyone's tired of her. I'm tired of hearing about her and her experiment and how everyone here is a racist. That's not true. Let's just move on."<ref name="Bloom"/>
