More than 20 retired educators gathered at the County Office of
Education on Friday and shared stories, caught up with old friends
and gave their expert opinions about the progress of San Benito
County schools.
More than 20 retired educators gathered at the County Office of Education on Friday and shared stories, caught up with old friends and gave their expert opinions about the progress of San Benito County schools.
“I think there is more sophistication in teaching today,” Former County Superintendent Bob Bouchard said. “The teachers are more well trained and the test scores are showing it.”
He and the rest of the group came together for coffee and cookies at the annual retired teachers reception.
Sipping on a cup of coffee, Frances Palmtag chuckled as she talked about how she may be the oldest teacher in the county. Part of her 26 years as an educator was spent at Willow Grove School in Paicines. As a rural school, Palmtag said there was a handful of students who barely spoke English, but, back then, the language barrier was handled differently.
“They learned most of their English on the playground,” she said. “At that age, they learn very quickly and, as teachers, we would take Spanish classes at night, but we never had any kind of program like they do today.”
Palmtag said the English Language Learners program, which most districts use, is a good thing.
Although Marie Cosgrove retired after 24 years at San Juan School, she occasionally substitute teaches and said she’s impressed with the smaller classes sizes.
“I think it’s a good thing to have the smaller number of kids on the lower grade classrooms,” she said. “It allows the teachers more time with each child rather than lecturing. You can’t teach young children that way.” Since 1998, kindergarten through third grade classrooms are required by the state to only allow 20 students or less per classroom.
Cosgrove also expressed her concern about the glum-looking state, county and district budgets. As of this week, the County Office of Education is still working its budget with $293,466 less than last year, and Hollister School District (HSD) has a $2 million deficit.
“There is no easy solution,” she said. “I think all of the state is dealing with this right now.”
Les Pierce said when he was teacher at Rancho San Justo 20 years ago, he had anywhere from 30 to 45 students in his classroom. Under those circumstances, he thinks HSD has done the best job they can with the budget. However, he said he’s glad he’s not teaching in today’s classrooms.
“I would be in big trouble,” he jokingly said. “I’m not very diplomatic and I’ve got a hard head and when I’m doing my job, I want to be left alone.”
County Supervisor Reb Monaco, who also taught special education for 32 years, said he’s concerned about the financial state of the schools, but the last thing he wants to see cut is personnel.
“You cannot cut personnel, especially teaching staff because it will have an effect on the classroom,” he said.
Christine Tognetti can be reached at 637-5566, ext. 330 or at ct*******@fr***********.com.
