By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT – Performing a forward body flip is impressive, more so when it comes unexpectedly.

Humphrey Wong, one of 19 Westport Public Schools retirees honored by the school board last week, managed to pull it off unscathed before a large crowd of colleagues, friends and family.

“I try to connect everything I do with something,” said Wong, adjusting his tie and lifting his eyeglasses back up from the podium to explain the reason he wasn’t hurt was that there were so many points of contact between his body and the hard cafeteria floor as he rolled forward.

“That’s what I try to do with students,” said Wong, who spent 13 years as a Staples High School physics teacher, a second career after spending nearly 22 years as a senior scientist for Eastman Kodak.

Wong explained his job involved much more than teaching physics. Aiming to be the teacher students were glad to have, Wong said he did the best he could to help his students figure out how to solve problems but also become better people.

Wong and the other retirees collectively represent more than 400 years of service to the district.

The meeting also served to honor the school board’s two student representatives, one of whom is graduating, and this year’s school PTA leaders.

The Retirees

Retirees leaving the district include a smattering of paraprofessionals, administrative assistants, a carpenter, and administrators, along with teachers.

From Staples, along with Wong, retirees included Susan McCarthy who spent 11 years as a paraprofessional in the World Languages Department, and before that was in the math and science department.

Staples Principal Stafford Thomas said McCarthy knew where just about everything was in those departments and helped coordinate overseas trips to China in her role in the World Languages Department.

Frances Geraci, an administrative assistant retiring after 26 years, worked in the Staples guidance department. Bill Plunkett, head of guidance, in a statement read on his behalf, said Geraci had a sense of calm and kept everyone grounded.

From Bedford Middle School, retirees include Karen McCormick, Joyce McNiff, and Stephen Rexford.

Bedford Principal Adam Rosen called McCormick a passionate educator and tireless collaborator. She was at Bedford for nearly 30 years, but it was a second career. She had work previously in sales and promotion for a number of television stations. As a teacher she started in fifth grade but found her niche teaching drama and as director of Bedford theater productions.

Rosen said McCormick always had a “let’s get it done” spirit, helping students build confidence, connect with others and feel seen.

McCormick said she enjoyed every minute of it. It is hard to retire, she said but decided this was the year.

McNiff, a paraprofessional for 21 years, was called a cherished member of the community and a constant source of calm and kindness.

Rexford, an educator for 35 years, 26 of them in Westport, taught language arts and founded Ursus, the middle school’s student newspaper. He also was said to be behind a flash mob performance once of the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene in the Bedford cafeteria.

Rosen said Rexford was all about curiosity, creativity and collaboration.

“Steve has a rare gift,” said Rosen. “He could hone in on what matters.”

From Coleytown Middle School retirees include James Forgey and Debra Spath.

Forgey taught band for 25 years and had a passion for music that was contagious, said Coleytown Middle School Principal Beth Messler.

Spath, who over 20 years taught in sixth, seventh and eight grade, ended her career as a math interventionist at Coleytown Middle.

“She was always so much more than a role,” said Messler. “Her positivity radiated throughout the halls.”

Greens Farms Elementary School retires include Judy Bachman, an English Language Teacher retiring after 30 years and Shauna Flaherty, who spent eight years as an administrative assistant and 11 years before that as a paraprofessional at Long Lots Elementary School.

Greens Farms Principal Brian Byrne said Bachman made a quiet but powerful impact at the school, working with English as a Second Language students.

Students she worked with not only learned to conjugate verbs but find their voices and confidence, Byrne said.

“She taught with heart and humor, humanity and an impressive array of stickers,” Byrne said.

Flaherty, who left the district in December, was a huge piece of the Greens Farms community, Byrne said. “We miss her.”

Retirees from Saugatuck School include Carolyn Siclari, a second-grade teacher who is leaving the district after 18 years, and Anne Sheffer, a special education paraprofessional with 21 years in the district.

Both were called “the one trusting adult” for so many Westport students.

Retiring from Long Lots Elementary is Mary Scaife, an administrative assistant for 24 years. Assistant Principal Vicki Fielosh called Scaife a steady behind the scenes presence who managed to keep everything on track.

“If you needed something done, Mary had already done it and was on to the next task,” Fielosh said.

Coleytown Elementary Principal Safiya Key spoke about retirees Jane Garard, who over 26 years taught first, second and fourth grade, and Maureen Vergato, a literacy specialist who has spent 36 years in the district.

Key said Garard was the school’s unofficial poet in residence and had a way of making school moments seem just a little bit magical.

Vergato, according to Key, devoted her career to making sure students loved to read.

On the central office side, retirees included: Peter Caligiure, who served as a carpenter for the district for 29 years, Health Services Supervisor Suzanne Lavasseur, who was with the district 14 years, Coordinator of Psychological Services Valerie Babich. who was with the district 20 years, and Assistant Superintendent of Schools Anthony Buono, who has served in the role for seven years.

Caligiure tackled both expected and complicated assignments with a solutions-oriented mindset and also coached the Staples Varsity Golf team, said Assistant Superintendent John Bayers.

“What makes him special is the way he treats people,” said Bayers.

Lavasseur, who started her role in 2012, helped lead several district initiatives and was a fixture at board meetings during the Covid crisis.

Babich, who came to the district in 2012 as a school psychologist, went on to lead a team of 30 counselors, social workers and school psychologists.

Babich told the crowd she was grateful to work in a district that prioritized mental health and the wellbeing of students and staff.

It valued social and emotional learning so much it made it a bedrock of its strategic plan, Babich added, acknowledging the district can’t have academic growth without SEL.

Buono, who oversaw curriculum and instruction, came to Westport in 2018 after having served as a teacher in Wallingford, principal in Groton and assistant superintendent in Branford.

Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice said Buono established a gold standard in curriculum in the district particularly in the area of early literacy. Westport is one of the highest achieving districts in the state in language arts.

“You leave behind a better district,” Scarice told Buono.

Buono said retirement is bittersweet and that concluding in such an excellent school district is one of the greatest honors of his career.

Student Representative Recognition

This is the second year the district has had student representatives sit at the Board of Education table.

The idea grew out of desire to give students more opportunities to take on leadership roles. Initially somewhat controversial, the board is so happy with how it has played out it decided last month to make it permanent.

Calum Madigan, a graduating senior, was part of the initial pair of selected students. Souleye Kebe, a junior, joined the table this fall.

Board Chair Lee Goldstein said so far, student reps have come prepared, opinionated and have exceeded expectations.

“You give really good feedback and worked hard to get feedback from fellow students,” Goldstein told Madigan.

She told Kebe he raised the bar in what is expected of student opinions with an idealistic perspective.

“I knew it would be positive,” Board Secretary Neil Phillips said of adding student voices to the board, adding “I had no idea how good it would be.”

Often, he said, the student comments made him think differently about topics.

Together the students managed to kill a plan to change the daily schedule at Staples High School.

“You two undid all the work of your principals and counselors,” Board Member Abby Tolan told them. “I am excited to see what comes next.”

Next for Madigan is graduation. I the fall he will attend Wesleyan University, he said after the meeting.

He called the experience of spending every other Thursday with the board “a highlight of his week” and added it has made him consider a career in public service.

“I am really going to miss these meetings and being featured on the Westport Journal,” Madigan said.

Kebe said he sought to be a student rep on the board because he wanted to make sure student voices were heard. He said he plans to continue that next year.

RECOGNITION OF PTA CO-PRESIDENTS

PTA leaders recognized during the event included: Michele Carey-Moody, Lori Freemon, Jennifer Sydor, Adrienne Morrison, Alaina Skiber, Liz Leary, Catherine Young, Arielle Leighton, Christina Royce, Lindsay Brachle, Kalyn Jahansouz, Allison O’Dell, Indy Pereira, Lindsay Blass, Beatriz Jones, Gina Christie, Marisa Timperman, Jodi Harris, and Stefanie Shackelford.

Linda Conner Lambeck

^{_{Linda Conner Lambeck covers education for Westport Journal. She was a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications. She has covered education throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties. She is a proud member of the Education Writers Association.}}