HILLSBOROUGH: 500 years of experience will retire from schools

School board honors 29 retiring staff members

By Kelly Velocci, Packet Media Group
   They came from across the district’s nine school buildings and have educated the township’s youngest and oldest students.
   Together, they have taught for more than 500 years throughout their careers.
   Ten Hillsborough Township teachers as well as a guidance counselor, academic support instructor, math supervisor, social worker and the Hillsborough Education Association president came to bid farewell at the Board of Education meeting Monday. They are among a total of 29 retirees who will be leaving the district this year.
   The retirees stood next to their principals, who described the impact each teacher will leave on the school and their career accomplishments.
   Each speech ended with a hug. The township gave each retiree an apple-shaped clock engraved with their name and celebrated the end of the evening with a congratulatory cake.
   Hillsborough Education Association President Barbara Parker received a standing applause from the audience after her successor, Daynon Blevins, recalled Ms. Parker’s contributions to the district.
   Ms. Parker has taught for 40 years with 12 of those years spent as the Hillsborough Education Association’s president. The association represents the district’s 712 teachers and 300 member support staff. The association provides support, professional development and contract enforcement for education union employees.
   Mr. Blevins described Ms. Parker as “the most influential person in the district over the past 10 years” and said, “Hillsborough is a better place because of Barbara Parker.”
   Auten Road Intermediate School Principal Christopher Carey honored Wayne Kopf, the intermediate school’s jazz band director. Mr. Kopf has taught at all nine district schools throughout his career.
   Mr. Carey said Mr. Kopf “helped students find success through music.” Mr. Kopf hopes to play music professionally during retirement.
   Hillsborough High School Principal Karen Bingert honored several teachers, including Susan Pristas, a longtime teacher of German. Ms. Bingert said Ms. Pristas seizes every day.
   Jane Staats has taught math at the high school for 18 years. During retirement, Ms. Staats hopes to pursue her passion for painting, said Ms. Bingert, who reminisced about Ms. Staats’ creativity designing the high school theater department’s set displays and painting her classrooms walls.
   Deborah Gross, a Hillsborough Middle School science teacher, began teaching in 1978 said Middle School Principal Joseph Trybulski. She has taught for 25 years and has been a leader in the township’s science curriculum development.
   Ms. Gross also was a member of the district’s Connect Consortium to train teachers to organize lessons in math and science.
   During retirement, Ms. Gross looks forward to volunteering with children battling cancer, Mr. Trybulski said.
   Joan Arshen, better known as “Ms. Sunshine” around Hillsborough Middle School, has been teaching for 30 years, Mr. Trybulski said. In 2008, Ms. Arshen’s peers selected her as the school’s Teacher of the Year.
   Ms. Arshen plans to travel to Israel with her husband during her retirement and work with autistic children, Mr. Trybulski said.
   Donna Kitzie, a teacher at Woodfern Elementary School, is the voice behind the school’s daily “Words of Wisdom” announcements. Steven Kerrigan, Woodfern’s principal, recalled one student missing Ms. Kitzie’s “words of wisdom” when she was absent one day.
   During retirement, Ms. Kitzie is looking forward to becoming a “gym rat” and starting a dog walking service.
   Triangle Elementary School Principal Lisa Heisel honored the elementary school’s preschool teacher, Caroline Quadrino. Ms. Heisel said everyone at the school enjoys seeing the preschool children, who stand out as “little celebrities,” Ms. Heisel said.
   Ms. Heisel said Ms. Quadrino is retiring primarily because she couldn’t commit to two more years of service and didn’t want to leave her students after only one year, Ms. Quadrino said.
   In addition to the retirees mentioned above, the following teachers and staff will be retiring:
   Amsterdam Elementary School: Fred Keiper.
   Woods Road Elementary School: Linda Reimer and Roberta Vladimer.
   Triangle Elementary School: Deborah Grimaldi.
   Sunnymead Elementary School: Carole Davis.
   Hillsborough Elementary School: Jerrie Hoover.
   Auten Road Intermediate School: Bonnie Alley, Jan Hartmann, Denise Ordway, Lorraine Pydeski and Linda Glincman.
   Hillsborough Middle School: Carol Leo, Jeanne Magliaro and Patricia Mathisen.
   Hillsborough High School: Richard Fulmer, Joanne Gordon, Stephen Grabowski, Cynthia Sobreyra (last year’s Somerset County Teacher of the Year), Charlie Davis, Phyllis Pinsky and Maria Szijj.