Letter: Thank You, Ridgewood Teachers!

Osbourne, Singer, Green, Casper, Uncle Bob, Turner, Geils, Muller, Calabria, Guidetti, and Hauser.  Obviously just names to you….but to me they trigger  stories of them and about them… A few that I want to share with you tonight.

Osbourne was my first…they say you never forget your first.  Whoever said that was right.  I vividly remember a day that the newspaper reporter and photographer came to my school and took my picture.  I didn’t understand what the big deal was about a 4 year old telling time.  Yet, here they were reporting on a new and exciting program called head start and the teacher who was teaching it, Mrs Osbourne.

Singer. Mrs. Singer taught me penmanship and that praising someone goes a long way in life.  She always praised me.  That lesson I continue to practice today.  Later she became a friend.  Someone I visited often on my way home from the high school.

Green.  Oh la la.  The first teacher I had a major league crush on.  She pulverized my little heart when she announced that she was getting married in the middle of the year during 4th grade.  

Casper.  Mrs. Casper was the secretary at Hawes school forever.  She was always kind and I thought she ran the school because it seemed everyone, kids, parents and teachers were always asking her questions and she always knew the answers.

Uncle Bob. Bob Kasner was more than the first custodian of Hawes School.  He was everyone’s Uncle.  A title he earned when he gave out icicle pops for cuts, falls and as a reward if he witnessed a kind act or good deed.  

I learned all of the capitols of the world from Mr. Turner.  He made teaching fun by making learning the capitols a game.  Boys were pitted against the dreaded girls.  We earned points for each correct answer and no one wanted to let their team mates down, so we practiced hard.  At the end of the month, he would announce the winning team and we got some long forgotten reward for winning.  It was fun.

J. Geils.  He was a cool old guy who loved science and made us all love it too.

Muller.  Yes ,the one in the same current principal who is here tonight.  He was the worst teacher…. Only kidding .  He had so much energy…. sometimes things never change, but he connected the dots and made education real when he taught us how to balance a checkbook.

Calabria.  The second love of my life.  Someone please let Mike know that I saw her first.  I, to this day still have no idea what she taught. As you all know she was tragically taken from us much too young.  She was the second punch of the one two punch that made Math my favorite subject.       

Mr. Guidetti was everyone’s favorite guidance counselor.  While he wasn’t mine he still was my favorite.  It wasn’t until I saw him umpiring baseball games that I realized that anyone who worked in a school had a life outside of the school.

Mrs Hauser.  She was one of the most compassionate people I ever met in my life.  She always knew the right words to pick me up when I had troubles in High School.  I kept in touch with her for a few years after high school Earlier this year I was saddened by her passing. She was a great lady

I could go on and on, but there is not enough time tonight to describe how everyone associated with my school years contributed something for me to remember, believe in or admire.  Just as important are the life skills that they nurtured, taught and developed.

Stories like these were repeated time and time again over the course of the years represented by all of you here tonight.  Some of them may have been shared with you, but for the most part the majority remain untold…. hidden in the memories of students you remember or have long forgotten.  One thing is important to remember and celebrate….you all have made an impact on scores of students who have passed through your offices, sat in your classrooms, played on teams you coached, participated in clubs you ran, supervised in detention halls or tutored.  They can’t be here to relate their personal stories of what you have meant to them, but there is no doubt that they would have shared even more stories then the ones I told. The stories that they could tell would be compelling, insightful and even may bring a tear to our eyes as to the impact you have had on the world around us.  

Each of you have place a grain of sand into the cornerstone of who we became.  Our sense of values, morals, and passions have a direct origin to your work and personal interactions with us. Humbly, I am here to represent them and their stories.  It is an important task.  

Real success is not measured in possessions or money.  That all can be taken or lost in the blink of any eye.  Success, I believe is something that we gift to one another in terms of our time and through the talents we posses.  Tonight your gifts to the children that passed through your care makes you the most successful and important people I have ever had the privilege to be associate with.  The fabric of our society is built on those gifts.  On behalf of the entire board both present and past, and on behalf of every student that has passed through the Ridgewood School System, I say thank you and job well done.  

I seek make Miss LaFauchi my 8th grade Spanish teacher proud with a Spanish saying… Su Salud, may your retirement be a long and health one.