Collectively, they worked more than three centuries — 308 years, to be exact — in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District. Each of them is retiring with the end of the current school year, and they were all honored at Monday night’s meeting of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education.
The retirees, who are identified in the accompanying photo, were introduced to the school board, school administrators and a large gathering of family members and friends by Anthony Suozzo, assistant superintendent of schools
To a rousing round of applause, Mr. Suozzo introduced each retiree individually and gave him or her a framed commemorative plaque.
Each retiree then accepted a handshake and thanks from all nine members of the school board, Superintendent Thomas Smith and Robert Colavita, the district’s business administrator and school board secretary.
After that had been done, Mr. Suozzo told the retirees: “Go forward and enjoy the next phase of your life. While you do, reflect on the positive impacts that you have had on so many students here.”
Also honored at Monday night’s meeting was Central High School’s choir. Under the direction of Matt Epperding, the choir opened the meeting with a rendition of “Alelouga,” a Haitian tune that sounded fantastic and drew Dr. Smith to ask Mr. Epperding if “you had an encore.”
Mr. Epperding paused and said: “Well, here’s one that we haven’t rehearsed for awhile.:
Then the choir performed “Luk Luk Lumbu,” which comes from the Pacific island of Java. The highly spirited tune’s intricate arrangement and syncopations came off perfectly and brought the house down.
This brought Dr. Smith to thank the board and the district for supporting special programs like the choir.
“It’s a wonderful thing to hear these students sound so great, even on a song they haven’t practiced in a while,” the superintendent said with an emotional catch in his voice. “It shows how many hours of practice and effort they have put into this.”
The choir, which performed on Pennington Day, will sing again at 7 p.m. on May 29, free of charge, at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Trenton.
Also honored Monday night was the board’s outgoing student representative, Christine Persichetti, a senior at Central High School. “Christine has done an excellent job of reporting her school’s activities to us,” said school board President Lisa Wolff.
