By Kathy Onorato
When the Wiscasset Middle School final bell rings marking the end of the school year, it will also mark the end of the careers of four veteran educators whose combined years of educational experience total more than 140 years.
Linda Cailler, Barbara Wyman, Sue Kistenmacher and Janice O’Connell all say children have not changed much over the years, but the way teachers are required to teach certainly has changed and will continue to change.
“We were once able to set our own educational goals,” Wyman said. “Now goals are picked for you.”
Although the change in the educational climate weighed some in their decisions to retire, the retirees say with a new school system, a new principal, and a new superintendent all contributed to make this year the right time to retire.
“These four ladies are extremely valuable members of the WMS staff,” said Wiscasset Middle School Principal Linda Bleile. “They will be truly missed.”
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Barbara Wyman (Kathy Onorao photo) |
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Wyman’s first job was teaching art to seventh graders at a junior high school, just outside Philadelphia. Before coming to Wiscasset, Wyman taught at other private and public schools in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and here in Maine.
Wyman was hired in 1985 to teach a Wiscasset Primary School transition class, which was a placement for students who completed kindergarten, but were not quite ready for first grade. Wyman said at that time there was no clear curriculum and she could basically plan her classes however she wanted.
“I loved teaching this class as we did so many hands on activities to enhance learning in reading and writing,” she said.
Wyman recalled having the children perform plays and create story aprons to reinforce literature. “Everyone was reading by the end of the year,” she said.
Before coming to the Wiscasset Middle School, Wyman taught first and fourth grades at the Wiscasset Primary School.
According to Bleile, Wyman volunteered to make the move to the middle school and has done an extraordinary job at giving fifth graders their first experiences at hands-on science experiments.
Wyman said she soon realized how much she enjoyed teaching science when she began teaching the fifth grade and admits it has been the favorite time of her career.
She said she has enjoyed watching students learn. “Most students love science and getting to know more about their world,” she said.
Although Wyman is leaving her teaching post, she will continue to work at Le Garage, where she has worked during summers and weekends since 1980.
“It’s an easy job to do. I go, do my job, and go home,” she said. “I don’t have papers to grade or lessons to plan.”
Wyman said she is looking forward to doing a less demanding job to supplement her pension income, one that will not require her getting up at 5:15 in the morning.
“I’ll miss getting a phone call on snow days but won’t miss all the end of the year reports teachers now have to do,” she said.
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Linda Cailler (Kathy Onorao photo) |
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Cailler has taught school for 35 years, beginning as a high school English teacher at Erskine Academy in South China in 1975. Cailler took a break from teaching following the birth of her children and ran a small nursery school/daycare, while they were young.
In 1983 Cailler returned to teaching, accepting a position at the Chelsea Elementary School as a language arts and Maine studies teacher in grades six through eight. In 1984 she began her 30-career as a Wiscasset Middle School English Language Arts teacher for seventh and eighth grades.
“The years at Wiscasset have been good,” Cailler said. “I have worked with many great people.”
Cailler says her lengthy career has afforded her the opportunity to meet many wonderful young people and said she often thinks of her former students and wonders what they have done with their lives.
She said her poetry unit has been her favorite part of teaching because it allows students to show their individuality.
“I tell the kids whenever I read a poem into which a student truly has put a piece of him or herself, it’s like wrapping a little gift,” Cailler said.
Cailler has kept copies of students’ poetry from years ago. “I remember those kids as if it were only yesterday. I hope they are still writing poetry,” she said.
Over the years Cailler said there have many changes around education and expects more to come in the near future. One change Cailler disagrees with is the new teacher incentive performance evaluations which are being based on students’ test scores.
“We are all already working hard enough,” she said.
She said the new teacher evaluation process, “gave me a little shove.”
Bleile said Cailler is one of those teachers who is fair to all students. Often students who need a calming environment are sent to her classroom, Bleile said.
At this time, Cailler has no plans for retirement except to spend more time with her one and half year old grandson, Chase, who lives in Chicago.
“Retirement is a bit scary, but life has taught me that a person needs to prioritize what is important, and it’s time for me to focus on other things,” Cailler said. “Life goes by too quickly.”
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Sue Kistenmacher (Kathy Onorao photo) |
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Kistenmacher has spent 28 years of her 34-year education career as a Wiscasset Middle School science teacher.
“Education has been a rewarding career. I have enjoyed working with young people,” she said.
Students in “Ms. K’s” science classes will remember collecting bugs in the fall and wildflowers in the spring. These projects, Kistenmacher said, make students more aware of their surroundings.
“I love nature study,” she said. “If students look to appreciate the natural world, they will take care of it.”
Kistenmacher said she has happily survived 28 weeks of Chewonki’s Outdoor Classroom for Schools, which taught students teamwork while learning about taking care of the environment.
Bleile said she respects Kistenmacher’s knowledge of science.
“She gets her students to think about science,” Bleile said.
With budget constraints over the last few years, Kistenmacher said there has very little money for field trips which offered considerable learning experiences in science.
For many years, students enjoyed a week-long unit at Reid State Park, which offered hands-on learning for science, art and reading, and which has now been phased out, Kistenmacher said.
When the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant was operational, the schools had everything they needed, she said.
“Now we are like everyone else,” Kistenmacher said.
Kistenmacher said the school’s parent/teacher group is now funding most of the field trips.
Kistenmacher has recently become a Maine Master Naturalist and will continue her love of science and teaching at the Hidden Valley Nature Center by helping teachers plan nature programs for the center.
Kistenmacher said she will have more opportunity to travel and will not be limited to traveling during school vacation weeks when travel is much more expensive. She has family on the west coast, Georgia, and Florida, and plans on visiting them more
“I thank all the young people and staff that made this wonderful career possible,” she said.
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Janice O’Connell (Kathy Onorao photo) |
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O’Connell began her career as an education technician in 1984 at Wiscasset High School. At the time, William Cummings was principal, and her future MWS co-workers, teachers Chris Hammond and Warren Cossette, were students.
“I’ve been here so long that I have been assigned to help students in every room in this building including rooms that are no longer here,” O’Connell said.
From 1986 to 1988 O’Connell she assisted a student who was confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy. O’Connell transitioned from her student assistant position to a class room ed tech with Special Education teacher Pat Block, where she remained for several years.
During this time O’Connell said she and Block moved into several different resource rooms around the school.
“Even the outer storeroom extending into the playground was classroom space. We also stuffed ourselves into the conference rooms next to the office for a couple of years,” she said.
No matter where O’Connell’s classroom ended up her role has been to modify the work load of students to help them learn better, she said.
“Small ways make a big difference,” she said. “It’s a special thing to help students understand what’s confusing them.”
O’Connell said the most challenging part of her job has been wondering whether she did enough to help students succeed.
“I question myself every day,” she said.
Bleile said O’Connell has the ability to connect with students both in a group and one to one situation. “She has a very calming demeanor. Kids gravitate to her,” Bleile said.
O’Connell said she and her husband who she described as semi-retired have no specific plans for retirement.
“We will take care of each other,” O’Connell said.
