School Board Honors Retiring Teachers

By Larissa Lytwyn

Though the end of the school year is a notorious rush of final tests, projects, and activities, seven of the district’s 11 retiring teachers and administrators found time to enjoy an honorary reception during the beginning of the Board of Education’s June 15 meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff said that if all the retirees’ careers in Newtown were combined, the total would be “305 years of experience.”

“It would be longer than the town has been in existence,” he noted.

Newtown is preparing to celebrate its tercentennial in 2005.

Christine Wharton, a teacher at Hawley, Middle Gate, and Head O’ Meadow elementary schools, has had the longest career in Newtown — 38 years.

Close behind is Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate teacher Sheila Kolesar, who has served Newtown for 36 years.

Newtown High School Assistant Principal Jules Triber spent much of his educational career there, retiring after 34 years of service.

Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher George Stockwell, currently the school’s math specialist, has taught there for the past 31 years.

John Bird, a teacher at Newtown Middle School, Hawley and Reed Intermediate, taught in Newtown schools for 31 years.

Susan Ziemann, a Hawley, Sandy Hook and Middle Gate teacher, also taught in Newtown for 31 years.

Sandy Hook and Hawley Elementary School lead teacher Judy Pesce is retiring after 26 years in Newtown Schools.

Barbara Krell has taught at Hawley, Newtown High School, and Head O’ Meadow for the past 28 years. Priscilla Terhune taught at Hawley for 28 years.

Finally, Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher Deborah Stakel and Middle Gate Elementary School teacher William Bachrach spent the last 11 years of their careers in Newtown.

Dr Pitkoff presented each educator with a silver letter-opener engraved with an apple.

Carved into its gleaming surface are the words, “The custom of presenting an apple to a teacher is a simple gesture that has long demonstrated appreciation for the learning opportunity provided by a teacher’s efforts. As students apply what they have learned, they, in turn, become the fruit of the teacher’s labor. Today, the apple given to educators symbolize and acknowledges the impact and importance of teachers in the lives of students.”