'Mr. W' Leaves Havre de Grace High School ... For Now

He came to Havre de Grace more than a decade ago as the teacher whose name very few could pronounce.

A dozen years later, and, well, some things never change.

But while some never figured out how to pronounce Gary Wasielewski's last name, most would quickly point to him as one of the top educators in the school.

Wasielewski’s final day as a social studies teacher at Havre de Grace was Friday. He’ll assume the role of model chair—a new position the county is looking to implement that is, as Wasielewski describes it: half-teacher, half evaluator.

“The idea is that the person who knows the content best should know how it should be implemented,” Wasielewski said.

After a year and a half in the position, which will take “Mr. W” first to the CEO building in Aberdeen, Wasielewski will return to Havre de Grace.

He will remain as the sponsor of Havre de Grace’s mock trial club, but he’ll have to give up one key component of his success at Havre de Grace in the move.

“Volleyball I have to give up. I can't do both,” Wasielewski said. “They came up with a way for me to do mock trial. With volleyball, you get out of school early sometimes. With my new position, I can't do that.”

Wasielewski has two daughters at Havre de Grace High School—as well as a younger son and daughter in local schools—and lives within walking distance of the school. He is a local historian who contributes to , penning the for the series. He also runs the Dauntless vintage baseball club. Wasielewski served on City Council and narrowly lost to current Mayor Wayne Dougherty in the 2007 election. There was a groundswell of support for him to run for City Council again this May. Instead, he’ll be involved in shaping a future position with the school system.

A Q&A with Wasielewski from last year can be found .

On his final day at Havre de Grace, Wasielewski oversaw the excavation of a time capsule, buried on the school grounds by the Havre de Grace High School Class of 1981. Patch will have video tomorrow of Wasielewski’s archeology class unearthing the time capsule.

Wasielewski’s final day was met with little fanfare, other than a smattering of surprised and supportive comments on the Havre de Grace Facebook page.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: For an official job description for Harford County Public Schools' model department chairperson, click here.