Glen Lake bids goodbye to 137 years of teaching experience

By Chloe Gribbin

Sun contributor

As an alumna of Glen Lake Community Schools, I finally feel that I am able to appreciate, without any bitterness or hard feelings of a looming assignment to cloud my view, all of the character and effort it takes to be a full-time educator.

These men and women become second families to their students; they are there during scraped knees at recess, see the tears of first break-ups, and witness the joy of finally understanding that awful math problem. For the vast majority of our lives, we Glen Lake students have become quite accustomed to being privately tutored by our teachers, and having lesson plans catered — for the most part — around student life. As I prepare to embark on the next chapter of education, I am beginning to realize the utter uniqueness of the school I spent 13 years in, growing up, developing and learning.

It is with these kind of thoughts in mind that the community says goodbye to five extraordinary teachers and unique women. Students and parents alike will notice the difference in the hallways of the school come this fall, when the absence of Title 1 teacher Mary Tuttle, fourth grade teacher Sharon Scanlon, second grade teacher, Joy Ash, fifth grade teacher Tamara Maurer, and first grade teacher Peggy McNew will be most prominent.

“There’s a lot of talent going out the door,” says Superintendent Joan Groening. “And the school won’t be the same without them.”

These educators represent the elementary years to many Glen Lake students, both present and past, who learned the most basic, yet important life skills because of these women. Replacing them will be difficult. I myself, along with many of my classmates, had four out of the five women as teachers, and can personally vouch for their aptitude and kindness. I clearly recall learning penmanship from Mrs. McNew in first grade and marveling over Mrs. Ash’s apple collection a year later. I remember witnessing the terror of the 9/11 attacks on the TV in Ms. Scanlon’s room, as well as the tranquility of writing poetry in Mrs. Maurer’s English class. And everyone, of course, remembers Mrs. Tuttle making visits throughout the classrooms throughout the years. Her visits were always met with excitement by my fellow classmates, her departures always met with disappointment.

“We’re in the middle of interviewing and hiring, but that’s a lot of years of service and knowledge of students and families that will take a while for the new teachers to begin to understand and form a base off of,” adds Groening. While Glen Lake has established a reputation for having compassionate teachers, and will certainly continue the tradition, it is indeed impossible for the relationships between these teachers and the community to ever be replaced or duplicated.

The retiring teachers will receive a $25,000 cash package in addition to $10,000 for the first two years of a three-year period. An extra $5,000 will be tacked on in the third and final year. Other faculty members have also shown interest in the plan, but have not, as of yet, confirmed their retirement for the 2010-2011 school year.

And although the school itself will be at a great loss without these five remarkable women, the community will remain enriched by their knowledge and presence. It is a rare summer that GLCS students can walk down to Empire Beach, or enjoy music at Boone Docks and not see one of these women enjoying her new-found free time.

These teachers have cared for students over a collective span of 137 years, and will continue to inspire and educate, whether on the Glen Lake payroll or not. Their legacies have far exceeded them in their past students, who have gone and will go out into the world confident and prepared. Future students can only hope to have the privilege of having of these fine ladies as, perhaps, a substitute.  They have served our community beyond all expectation, and are very much deserving of their newfound freedom. They will be celebrated and missed in the hallways of the school that is so indebted to them.