I retired last week after 33 years in public education—and happily so. I have done my best, and now it’s over. In the Berkshires, I have provided school psychology services to both Berkshire Hills Regional School District and Richmond Consolidated School. I have also worked in other parts of the United States. Wherever I’ve been, there have been days when I felt like I was able to make a difference for kids, and many more days when I questioned whether I had made any difference at all.
Frankly, I’ve hated my job for a very long time. Spending an entire career pointing out what’s wrong with children has been completely antithetical to who I am, and in my estimation, deeply unfair to them. If only someone would have been willing to pay me to tell children what is right with them rather than what is wrong, I might have felt more useful and perhaps more reluctant to retire.
What I can say without hesitation is that it has been my honor to work with the incredibly talented, child-centered teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, and service providers who have inspired me every day and made even my most despairing moments so much better through their examples of deep commitment to children.
At Richmond Consolidated, I have been blessed to work with individuals like Lisa Callahan, Rachel Kanz, and a host of other consummate educators who put kids first every day and never, ever, stop improving their practice.
At Muddy Brook Elementary School, I have worked with teachers like Kerry Manzolini, Rich Montano, Glen Chamberlin, and Susan Teigen, models of teaching excellence all. Leanna Pegorari and Colleen Meaney, my “work wives,” have saved my sanity on a daily basis and inspired me with their skill, humor, and compassion. Kortney Shimmon, Will Smith, and Jeano Daigle keep the wheels from falling off the wagon every day, and Nurse Becky Touponce is without question both incredibly skilled and hilariously funny.
Du Bois Middle School has Ellie Rizzo who is, quite simply, one of the best teachers of students with developmental disabilities to be found anywhere on God’s green earth; Nan Smith, Gail Bouknight-Davis, and Alison McGee, who are highly skilled academic interventionists; and the eighth-grade team who have been deeply committed to helping their students locate and celebrate their humanity. Let’s not forget Kim Cormier and Jessica Oakley—I could write an entire column about each of them, so spectacular are they. Julie Duffin, Linda Santos, and Debra Spence are treasures.
I think of the amazing clinical staff at Monument Mountain High School: Pam Morehouse, Casey Wilton, and Nicole Cast. I think of Anne D’Aniello and Becky Auger, two special education teachers who I am convinced would lay down their lives for a kid in need—and so, so, many more.
This list is meant to be representative and not comprehensive. If you would like to know the names of every colleague who has inspired and motivated me and made me both a better person and a better professional, I would need to provide a list of the entire faculty at all four schools. If you care to see those names, log onto the Berkshire Hills and Richmond Consolidated websites. They are all there, and they are all wonderful.
A special shout-out to Jenevra Strock, Mary Shook, and Kate Burdsall, special education directors who have put up with all of my nonsense for many years and have somehow refrained from strangling me.
To all of the parents of all of the students who attend any of the aforementioned schools, know this: Your children are in very good hands.
To all of the employees of all of the schools, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have made an occupation that I have come to find deeply demoralizing, infinitely more bearable. I hope my replacement will be far more joyful in their work and far less of a curmudgeon.
You are my heroes, and I wish you well. The students you work with have won the public education lottery, and as your colleague, I did too.
