Longtime Teacher Named Absegami High School Teacher of the Year

After 33 years as a teacher, Janet Hutchings received a prize many felt she always deserved, and with it, the attention she never craved.

Hutchings, a Special Education teacher at was recently named the school’s Teacher of the Year by the Greater Egg Harbor Regional School District.

“The nominations are in November, and apparently, there were quite a few letters written in support of me,” said Hutchings, who added she hadn’t seen any of the letters.”

Along with the honor comes $500 to be put toward the classroom, a luncheon at the Carriage House with the other winners from Atlantic County, along with all the superintendents and principals of schools, and her choice of parking spots.

“I think I’m going to use the money toward a program for Spanish,” Hutchings said.

She teaches the Spanish II program at the school, despite beginning her career at Absegami in 1977 as a Math teacher.

Over the years, she’s worked as a class adviser, the dance club adviser, co-adviser for the schoool store, an assistant basketball coach and the head coach for the girls’ track and girls’ cross country teams.

When Hutchings’ cross country teams won the conference title three years in a row, The Press of Atlantic City named her Coach of the Year, so Hutchings is no stranger to accolades. However, that’s not why she does the things that she does.

“There has not been a year that’s gone by that I haven’t been involved in something,” Hutchings said. “Teachers need to be involved in something. That shows the students that you really care.”

Not that there could really be any question about that when it comes to Hutchings, who calls Absegami a “second home.”

“There’s nothing I don’t like about this job,” said Hutchings, who grew up in Monmouth County and lives in Cumberland County. “I never wanted to leave this job. I never even gave it a second thought.”

That commitment was rewarded, not just with the honor, but with the reaction the rest of the school had to hearing that she won.

She received a phone call from the GEHR Superintendent of Schools Dr. Steven Cicciarello the night before the announcement was made in school, and she said she was shocked. The next day, she knew the announcement would come sometime during the afternoon, after the students completed their HSPA testing.

“I was in Study Hall when (Absegami Principal) Dr. (Jeri-Lynn) Gatto came on the announcements, (to announce the Teacher of the Year winner)” Hutchings said. “Dr. Gatto was describing the teacher and when she became more teacher specific the kids realized it was me.

"Then they made the announcement, and everyone congratulated me. Rebecca Davis brought her class over, and she had five of my students in that class, and they congratulated me.”

More congratulations would come later, specifically on Friday, Jan. 27, when her department supervisor, Meg Gawalis, organized a surprise party to help Hutchings celebrate the occasion. The party was Disney-themed, complete with a drawing of Hutchings dressed as Cinderella.

Hutchings describes herself as a “Disney freak,” and she brings her cross country teams to a meet in Disney World every other year. She also used to chaperone the senior class trips to Disney World, which is where her affinity for all things Disney began.

In 1988, Hutchings married her husband Bob, an assistant men’s basketball coach at the They have two sons, Robert and Ryan, who are both in college.

Over the years, Hutchings has seen many things change in the school system, notably in the area of technology. She says that even though students are not allowed to bring cell phones to school, many of them do any way, as well as iPods and other such devices that didn’t exist when she began her career.

This year, Hutchings is showing her students first hand that you never stop learning.

There were not enough students taking Spanish II this year for Hutchings to carry a full course load, so she teaches three Math classes to go along with her two Spanish II classes. She is now a co-teacher in the Integrated Math Program, along with Stephanie Caruso and Kristen Salotti.

But the Math she’s teaching now bares little resemblance to the Math she used to teach. When Foreign Language became a requirement of high school students, Hutchings started the Spanish program.

This year, she returned to a Math curriculum that covers subjects such as matrices, rectangular arrays of numbers, symbols or expressions that represent linear transformations or functions. Different matrices are added or multiplied together to solve problems.

It’s that kind of willingness and dedication that translate into a Teacher of the Year award. She was nominated by Spanish I teacher Laura Holleny, who  Hutchings also called her “campaign manager,” because she did so much to help her win, despite the fact that Hutchings didn’t even know she nominated her.

Now that she has been nominated and has won, Hutchings will be forever immortalized at Absegami, as her photo will be placed at the entrance to the school, along with the photos of the other Absegami Teacher of the Year winners.

Hutchings calls herself shy and humble. She usually shies away from the spotlight, but now, she will always be remembered by those at Absegami High School.