By Jennifer Connic
Susan Bachman, Long Lots Elementary library media specialist, was among the retiring school staff members honored Monday night. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jennifer Connic for WestportNow.com
The Westport Board of Education Monday night honored its retiring staff members, some who have over 30 years of service to the school district.
Those being honored were library media specialist Susan Bachman from Long Lots Elementary, third grade teacher Caltha Crowe from King’s Highway Elementary, music teacher Cathy Dobbs from Saugatuck Elementary, Staples High School athletics secretary Sandy Forehand, Long Lots custodian Edwin Hatton, art teacher Trudy Kelly from Coleytown Elementary and Long Lots school nurse Jeri Senges.
Bachman, Crowe and Dobbs were the only ones who attended Monday’s ceremony at the start of the Board of Education meeting, and each received a gift from the district.
“Teachers are what make (the school district) special,” said Board Chairwoman Mary Parmelee. “They’re the ones who develop curriculum, they’re the ones who implement curriculum and they’re the ones who connect with students every day.”
The teachers make it easier for the school board to do its job, she said.
Crowe said when she started teaching at an inner-city school, the other teachers welcomed her by taking all of the furniture from her classroom and didn’t speak to her the entire school year.
“Thankfully a kind soul took me under her wing,” she said. “We’ve come a long way from those days.”
She said she is proud in her role in helping mentor and guide new teachers in the Westport School District.
In the days of No Child Left Behind, she said, she fears teachers and school districts will lose touch with the developmental needs of children and addressing the individual learning needs of students.
Some students need more, in-depth teaching, she said, and others are not quite at the same level as their classmates.
She said she has faith in the district to not ignore the needs of students and not to start teaching to the test.
Bachman said Westport has been a wonderful way to culminate her career, and being a library media specialist is having to do bits of teaching.
She spent a year in China as an exchange teacher, and she said the experience changed her life.
The Long Lots PTA is amazing, she said, and are responsive and concerned about the school’s best interest.
Dobbs said she is proud to have been part of the district’s music program and there were too many people for her to thank.
“Students can learn many lessons through music,” she said.
