Retiring school principal lives up to her principles
By:Emily Craighead
Smiling faces at 7:50 a.m. are a good sign.
Smiling faces entering Triangle Elementary School each morning tell Principal Charlene Weicksel she can be proud of a job well done as she greets her students at the building’s main entrance.
"That’s where I get to see all their happy smiling faces happy to be here, happy to come to Triangle School every morning," Ms. Weicksel said. "This is a high every morning knowing that what we do makes them want to come to school."
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‘I like the ability to make a difference, to support and connect with teachers who are in the trenches every day.’ Charlene Weicksel,
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Yet even as she describes that happy moment, the 38-year veteran of Hillsborough Township School District reaches for a Kleenex to dry her tears.
Ms. Weicksel, 59, is retiring Sept. 1, but it’s an idea she still hasn’t gotten used to yet.
"I’ve cried three or four times every day since the new year," Ms. Weicksel said, sitting at a table in her office Tuesday morning.
Leaving her family of teachers, students and parents at Triangle School will be difficult, but Ms. Weicksel has another family that needs her.
Ms. Weicksel has always told her staff to put their family first, and now it’s her turn. "I said to them that I need to take my own advice and take care of my own family now."
To make time to care for elderly parents in Pennsylvania, Ms. Weicksel and her husband, a music teacher in Montgomery, are both retiring later this year.
Ms. Weicksel came to New Jersey from York, Pa., in 1963 to study at Westminster Choir College in Princeton. After graduating, she taught vocal music for 22 years at all the Hillsborough elementary schools (except Amsterdam School, which was built later), and at Hillsborough Middle School.
She left the classroom in 1989 to become the district’s first visual and performing arts supervisor, a position she holds now in addition to being principal.
"Yes I did miss the children at that point … I also felt the district needed someone to move the arts program forward," Ms. Weicksel said of her transition to district administrator. "It was great to be the first visual and performing arts supervisor because I got to make the position what it is."
As supervisor, Ms. Weicksel not only planned the art curriculum, but also filled in as assistant superintendent and then acting principal at Triangle School for a few months at a time.
"There were lots of things I did as supervisor that prepared me to be principal," Ms. Weicksel said.
When she finally came to Triangle School 12 years ago, Ms. Weicksel found her family.
"I like the ability to make a difference, to support and connect with teachers who are in the trenches everyday," she said.
And that is what Ms. Weicksel said she will miss most when she leaves.
"When people come up and thank you for things you’ve done, it makes you feel sorry that you have to leave," she said.
It is unlikely Ms. Weicksel will manage to duck the praise her colleagues, including Superintendent Karen Lake, believe she deserves.
"It has truly been a pleasure to work with Mrs. Weicksel these past six months," Ms. Lake said in an e-mail Tuesday. "Not only is Mrs. Weicksel a most able and dedicated principal here in Hillsborough, but concomitantly has served the district as the supervisor of art and music."
Among her contributions to the district, Ms. Weicksel counts serving on a committee that wrote a holiday curriculum including historical approaches to religious holidays because, she said, "Children live from holiday to holiday."
Ms. Weicksel also established a six-day rotation schedule for art classes still used in the district, to use staff more efficiently and increase students’ exposure to visual and performing arts.
With her retirement date nearly nine months away, Ms. Weicksel is already regretful of what she will leave behind, but her daily routine continues unchanged for now.
"The process of being a principal is ongoing and it never stops," she said. "You still want to do all the things you do every day."
Children will likely continue to be a part of Ms. Weicksel’s life after she retires. Ms. Weicksel said she may volunteer at a preschool, teach piano lessons, or scrapbooking classes for children.
Yet it is clear, as Ms. Weicksel reaches for her third Kleenex of the interview, nothing will ever replace the school district she has come to love.
"It has been such a privilege and an honor to work in Hillsborough for 38 years. There has never been a time when the district didn’t put children first in all of its decisions," Ms. Weicksel said.
"We are fortunate to have very caring leaders to help bring us along and for that I am extremely grateful. It has been a wonderful 38 years."