Schools
13 Parsippany Educators Retire, 'Legacy Will Remain'
Seven of the retirees were with the district for more than 25 years.
With the end of each school year comes teacher awards and retirements. This year, that proved to be the case in a big way in the .
Seven district educators—Margaret Babcock (Parsippany Hills High School), Joanne Caponegro (Director, PACE), Sheila Feldstein (District Child Study Team), Kathy Leo (PHHS Secretary), Kathleen Maloney (Special Services Secretary), Carol Sack (Littleton School) and Frank Tenore (PHHS)—were recognized at Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting as having served for 25 years or more in the district.
“You don’t replace, and I underscore, you do not replace these kinds of people and the contributions they made to our system,” District Interim Director of Personnel Paul Saxton said. “Their legacy will remain on forever and ever, and hopefully the work and contributions they have made have been exemplary models for each individual they’ve worked with through their staff. Hopefully, their legacy will live on through them.”
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In the case of Babcock and Feldstein, the district will have big shoes to fill. They, alongside 11 of their colleagues, were honored as the 2012 retirees of the district on Thursday night.
Feldstein echoed Saxton’s sentiments of the importance of leaving a mark on one’s co-workers.
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“I hope I’ve had the opportunity to touch each one of them just a little bit, and I hope they continue to do the wonderful work they do for our kids,” she said.
Several other retirees spoke to those in attendance. Karen Blunt, a district paraprofessional who is retiring from Lake Hiawatha School, spoke to the importance of the impact of educators on the lives of all those they encounter—in particular, their students.
“They have made me a better person and the person you see today. They have helped me realize that I have played an important role in their lives,” Blunt said. “That is why we get up every day. That is why we go to work. That is why we love what we do.”
“If you don’t think that what you do is important or that you may make an impact on a child’s life, let me assure you that you will.”
Two of this year’s retirees—Lake Hiawatha/Northvail teacher Judyth Elzer and Eastlake Elementary teacher Agi Ward—have known each other since attending Kindergarten on Staten Island. On Thursday night, their educational lives came full circle.
“Here we are graduating, and isn’t it amazing? We look remarkably the same as we did in Kindergarten,” Elzer joked.
For Elzer and the rest of the retiring employees of the district, warm memories now sit in the rear-view mirror while new, exciting challenges await.
“I want to thank everyone who’s been a part of my journey up to this point,” Elzer said. “Here’s a new and exciting journey.”
Joining Babcock, Blunt, Elzer, Feldstein and Ward in this year’s retirement class are the following: Troy Hills School nurse Emily Anglim, PHHS teacher Mary Clifford, Board of Education Coordinating Supervisor Linda Guerrini, Littleton Elementary teacher Barry Kaplan, Intervale Elementary teacher Katherine Lucibello, Eastlake Elementary teacher Denise Scatton, Central Middle School teacher Mary-Jo Solomon and PHHS teacher Joanne VanHouten.
