By Mary Ellen Zangara Special Writer
They say you can’t go home again, but you can go back to your old classroom again even if it’s not as a student, but as a newly minted teacher.
Just ask Weston kindergarten teacher and alumna Alicia Mathewson, of Manville. She will be the new teacher in Room 2. She replaces longtime kindergarten teacher Robbie Koffler, who retired at the end of the school year after teaching in Manville for 26 years.
Ms. Mathewson graduated in May from Montclair State, and had applied for a position in Manville in May. After her interviews, she was told the district had filled the position she interviewed for from within the district.
”Then I got the call he (Dr. Burkhardt) said, ‘Do you want a job?’ and I said I would love a job,” she said. “He said there was one over at Weston and it is kindergarten. I told him absolutely, I’m there.”
While Ms. Mathewson’s grandfather and aunt were both teachers, she’s the first in her immediate family to become a teacher. Ms. Mathewson has a degree in family and child studies with a concentration in elementary education and she is certified to teach kindergarten to fifth grade.
Ms. Mathewson went through the Manville school system from kindergarten to graduation in 2004. She began her elementary education right next door to her new classroom in Room 1 with Lillian Patero.
Donald Frank was her principal and now Ms. Mathewson will be working for him.
”It is so surreal, dreamlike,” she said. “I was (here) in 1991 and I remember the school dynamics and where the classrooms were but it is not how it was when I was here.
”I think it’s awesome to be back here,” she said.
Some of Ms. Mathewson’s teachers are even still teaching at Weston and now she will be one of their colleagues Sharon Liszczak was her third-grade teacher; Michelle Sniscak taught her physical education classes; and Steve Kane was her music teacher.
”I saw Mr. Kane for the first time and he said ‘I remember you,’” she said.
Her goals for her first year of teaching are “to get familiar with the staff and faculty that I will be working with.” She also wants to make learning fun and exciting for her classroom.
”I plan on having centers for different subjects so I can be working with the students,” she said.
”I can’t believe I graduated college and I am back in Weston School. The new chapter in my life is starting again at Weston School in kindergarten. It is like going back but in a different situation. I am no longer the student; I am the teacher for now. It should be interesting to see how that works out,” she said.
Carl Ruffer knows what Ms. Mathewson will be going through: He was hired after graduating from Rider University with a degree in communications and elementary education last year to teach technology classes at Weston and Roosevelt School for the third and fourth quarters.
Now he’s teaching in Room 16 where he was a third-grade student and where will be teaching second grade.
”It is going to be a lot different from being the technology teacher it will be a lot more rewarding and be a better experience,” he said. “I have a lot to look forward to.”
Mr. Ruffer said he often went back to his teachers for advice and help when he was a student and he’s hoping his students will do the same.
Ms. Mathewson and Mr. Ruffer now join other Manville district alumni students now teaching in the schools including newly hired Julia Houser at Alexander Batcho Intermediate School. She joins Kathy Malinowski, Desire Luszcz, Patrick Gorbatuk, and Principal James Brunn. Karen Barnish-Davies and Dorothy Puzio are alumni now teaching at Roosevelt.
Michelle Sniscak, Jennifer Dietrich and Jennifer Nordone are at Weston. Michael Lapotasky, Stacey Kita, Denise Formanowski and Carolyn Rogus are on the staff at Manville High School.
”I expect things to be very crazy I’m sure at times I will be caught off guard and be surprised by many situations and have to deal with them in different ways,” Ms. Mathewson said. “By June, I hope to look back and say, ‘wow this was both challenging but very rewarding for this year.’”
