It’s become a poignant tradition at Board of Education meetings in June to say goodbye to retiring teachers, and last week’s meeting was no exception as the Pelham school district bade farewell to nine educators, including Pelham Middle School principal Lynn Sabia. Although Sabia’s retirement was announced in February, the farewell she received from Superintendent Cheryl Champ on June 10 was an emotional high point of the three-hour meeting.
Champ recited a litany of compliments that Sabia had received from teachers before sharing her own feelings about her longtime colleague.
“Lynn, on a personal level, I have treasured….” Champ began, before getting slightly choked up. “This is where it goes,” she continued with a smile. “I have treasured your strength, loyalty, candor and insight. You’ve been a wise counselor, a faithful protector, someone who sees through the noise to the heart of who people truly are, and a genuine sister in faith. You’ve treated everyone with the dignity they deserve and are leaving a powerful example of faith, hope, and love in action.”
After that tribute, Pelham Middle School PTA president Maura Curtin announced that its PTA scholarship would be rechristened in Sabia’s honor.
“Lynn Sabia has patiently directed countless middle school parents over the hurdles and through these, what I can only describe as dramatic and mysterious years, to get to the end of middle school intact,” she said. “I’m personally profoundly grateful and will never forget you and the last contribution you have made to our district, the kids, and the parents who have been in your care. To honor Lynn’s contributions to our school and community, the executive committee of the Pelham Middle School PTA renamed the PMSPTA Scholarship to the Lynn Sabia Legacy of Character Scholarship. The scholarship reflects a legacy of purposeful leadership and student-centered excellence.”
While Sabia’s retirement was the primary focus of the salute to the retirees, Champ and other administrators paid tribute to eight other teachers and staffers who are leaving at the end of the month: Karen Cirillo, Johanna Kagel, Diana Fetta, Christina Prignano, Maria Abeshouse, Karen Mann, Margaret McCarthy, and Kim Scalisi.
Of Karen Cirillo, a longtime kindergarten teacher, Prospect Hill Elementary Principal Jeannine Carr said, “Prospect Hill will never be the same without you, but it is undeniably better because of you.”
Colonial Elementary Principal Rachael Garcia praised Kegel and noted that her “legacy will continue to live on in these hallways, in the memories of your students, and in the hearts of everyone whose life you have touched.”
Other retirees included long-term middle and high school chorus teacher Maria Abeshouse, middle school educator Diana Fetta, middle school nurse Margaret McCarthy, high school main office staff member Karen Mann, high school language teacher Christina Prignano, and high school counseling office assistant Kim Scalisi.
“To our retirees, thank you; thank you for the years, and in many cases decades of commitment and professionalism you have brought to your roles,” said Champ. “You have shaped the minds of our students, supported your peers, and upheld our district’s values through every challenge.”
In other personnel moves, Champ recommended that Jeanette Connolly, who currently heads up the high school’s Bridge Academy program, be named interim vice principal of the Pelham Middle School. Champ also recommended Robert Castagna to serve as interim Director of Physical Education, Health and Athletics, a position being vacated by Joe Toombs.
Towards the end of the meeting, high school principal Sean Llewellyn gave an overview of the results of the first year of implementation of the bell-to-bell ban on cellphones during the school day.
He reported better student engagement with classroom instruction and increased face-to-face interaction between students during free time.
“Now, when you talk to teachers about students in the classroom, they do report that their attention and engagement is better,” Llewellyn said. “Students, for their part, report less distraction from their phones during class. As a result, we do see students interacting with one another face-to-face in real life, in real time, more than a year ago.
“In fact, the incredible outcomes of the students in the high school, and some of the amazing achievements of our kids, and the degree of work that they are successful in their classes, demonstrate that they’re really engaged in school and with each other as well,” he said.
As for disciplinary referrals of students for violating cell phone rules, Llewellyn said they spiked from 64 a year ago to 392 this year.
“Now that data could be interpreted as, ‘Wow, students are using their phones a lot more now under the ban than they were before the ban.’ That sounds kind of counterintuitive. That’s not what the data means, certainly not to me. What that means is that before, a phone referral would be initiated because a student decided to take out their phone in class, when expressly they’re not allowed to take out the phone in class. And the teacher sees them, you know, sitting in the back with their phone behind their textbook or whatever it is, something that we would expect students wouldn’t be doing that often. Now it’s students in the hallway. Somebody sees a student with a phone, and it’s confiscated, it’s written up.”
Llewellyn also talked about the experiences that other school districts have had, noting that no one had figured out a magic solution to all the challenges of the cell phone policy. However, school districts that had signed up for pouches reported bad experiences.
“Every district that I’ve been in contact with that has gone to a pouch-based system regrets having done it, regrets the cost,” he said. “They say it’s not working. There isn’t compliance, and you know, the cost is not negligible.” The pouch system costs about $25,000 to $30,000 per year, he said.
In other news, the Board of Education honored seniors Arman Brummett and Eloise McGibbon for being selected as National Merit Scholarship finalists this year.
