The Malara brothers spent more than four decades teaching at Sayreville Middle School. SAYREVILLE — It’s the bottom of the ninthwith two outs, and Sayreville is about to be down two. Two teachers, that is.
After 42 years each, identical twins Anthony and Joseph Malara, both former parttime baseball scouts, will be retiring from their positions at Sayreville Middle School.
Joseph Malara, a world geography teacher, andAnthony, an American history teacher, are two of the district’s 20 professionals retiring this year.
But how did two brothers manage to find teaching jobs in the same school in the same department, even at the same time?
“That’s an interesting question. I’d say it was divinely inspired,” Joseph Malara said.
“Two teaching positions opened up in the same year in the same school two weeks apart,” he continued.
Anthony Malara agreed, echoing his brother: “It was divinely inspired.”
Considering that neither brother majored in education — both were political science majors at Monmouth University—it makes the event even more special.
“The odds of that happening are very rare,” Joseph Malara said. “He wanted us to be in the classroom; we’ve been here ever since.”
What’s it like being identical twins who both teach in the same school?
“It’s a bond that very few people can appreciate unless you are a twin,” Joseph Malara said. It allows each brother an immediate resource to bounce ideas off, the brothers said.
Many of the ideas work, but if something doesn’t, the brothers are able to work it out and come back to the classroom stronger teachers. Over 42 years, they’ve shared plenty of these conversations.
“There’s no greater teacher than experience,” Anthony Malara said. “There’s nothing you haven’t seen in 42 years.”
Andwhat’s something that they’ve learned through all the conversations?
“You can’t be too hard like an oak tree. You have to be more like a willow; you have to be more flexible,” Joseph Malara said.
The Malaras have not just observed students progress in the classroom, though. They’ve also witnessed students ofAmerica’s favorite pastime progress on the ball field.
“It’s the same thing as the classroom, but on the field,” Anthony Malara said of the experience gained from being a scout.
Starting out, he said, he knew what not to look for on the field, just like he knew how not to go about teaching.
“By the time the years rolled by, I got the experience and knew exactly what I was doing,” he said.
From 1980-1995, Anthony Malara was a free-agent scout for the Toronto Blue Jays, Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs. In that time, Joseph worked as an associate scout with his brother for the Cubs.
In 1991, Anthony said he was responsible for picking the Cubs’ first-round choice and 11th overall, Doug Glanville.
Going to games after school, which let out at 2 p.m. at the time, the Malaras would take in the talent on the high school, junior college and college levels.
With so many days served and so many children taught, the Malaras talked about what has fueled them throughout the course of their careers.
“To see the success of what’s been taught in the class and what they’ve done with it,” AnthonyMalara said.
His brother expressed a similar sentiment.
“It’s wonderful to see a kid’s face light up with understanding or when a kid says to you, ‘Thank you for teaching me this year.’ Those are the rewards in education that are priceless.”
Those types of moments, as well as moments shared with the faculty, are what they say they are going to miss the most.
“I’m going to miss the kids and miss teaching the subject. It’s a labor of love,” Anthony Malara said.
“The kids are the ones that keep you alive, keep me going. They keep you young,” JosephMalara said.
“It’s difficult for my brother and I to walk away from it after 42 years, especially when it’s a labor of love and you’ve enjoyed what you’ve done. But change is a natural part of life’s flow,” he added.
Technology and a changing culture, too, have helped keep things fresh and new for the Malaras.
While American history is not necessarily reactive to changes in technology, there is always new history being added, Anthony Malara said.
For Joseph, technology has definitely had an impact on his teaching style as well as the subject matter.
“Technology has certainly made a difference in howyou present it to the kids,” the geography teacher said. “Some of the kids are pretty knowledgeable about what’s going on in the world. They’re in tune to the media and the Internet [and] other kids; that’s why they’re here, to find out what they’re missing about what’s going on in the world.”
Now, not having to get up at the crack of dawn daily, the Malaras are looking to do some traveling.
They said they would like to spend some time in California. Travel plans, remaining involved in baseball by working with baseball camps in Massachusetts, and taking care of their mother are what they have planned at the moment, they said.
If anything else comes up though, it’s easy to see how they’ll choose what to do. They’ll use the internal compass that has guided them both throughout their careers.
“Love is the key word. It’s got to be in your heart,” Joseph Malara said.
Contact Sam Slaughter at [email protected].