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Letter to the editor

2 retirees, 2 legacies, 1 goodbye

A principal and assistant principal both depart.

By RITA FARLOW
Published June 3, 2007

PINELLAS PARK - When Vivian Neumann joined the Pinellas County School District in 1967 as a fifth-grade teacher at 54th Avenue Elementary, most students walked to school from nearby neighborhoods.

"We only had one bus, " said Neumann, principal at Pinellas Park Elementary School.

Assistant principal Nancy Bacon remembers when the free and reduced lunch program was expanded to include breakfast.

"The first year I taught, I kept a box of cereal in my cupboard and I'd go down to the cafeteria and buy milk because you can't learn if you're hungry, " said Bacon, who began her career at Tarpon Springs Exceptional Center in 1977.

The two longtime educators with the district are both retiring this year, moving on to the next phases of their lives at the same time - not surprising to staff members who say the two can finish each other's sentences.

"We are going to miss them immensely because they're such a team, " said Shannon Brennan, Title I facilitator.

Neumann, 61, and Bacon, 51, both said that one of the biggest changes they've witnessed over the past several decades is the home life of their students.

"It was an Ozzie and Harriet time, and now, with the financial situations, with insurances and rent and things like that, if a child has both parents, both are working. You don't have a stay-at-home mom, " Neumann said.

"You need students that are ready to come to school to learn and some of the students today can't do that because they have a lot of pressures at home, " Neumann said.

When Neumann and Bacon became teachers, most students had a family member there to greet them after school. Today, latchkey kids carry cell phones to check in with parents who may be at work long after school is dismissed. And students today deal with serious subjects at an earlier age, said Bacon. They go through lockdown drills and awareness campaigns to keep them safe from possible abductors, situations previous generations of schoolchildren didn't face.

"It's a crazy world out there now, " Bacon said. "They're exposed to an awful lot of violence."

Both administrators said they have concerns about the stress on kids caused by high-stakes testing. Assessment and accountability are important, said Neumann, "but to put a student, an 8-year-old, under that type of pressure is awful. It's devastating."

But children today have the advantages of increased technology, improved curriculum and specialized programs for varying ability levels. Bacon, who spent many years as a resource teacher for emotionally handicapped students, said major gains have been made in special education. "Back when I started 30 years ago, the special education students would get the hand-me-down books, sometimes we wouldn't even be allowed to go to the training. Special education has really moved forward, " she said.

Neumann, Bacon and other retirees were honored by the district on May 10. Neumann is the longest serving active administrator to retire this year. School staff honored Neumann and Bacon with skits and songs at a May 23 banquet.

Both women said they're confident about the future of Pinellas Park Elementary and its children. "The faculty and staff are so strong and have a lot of leaders among them. I think that they'll carry on the work that we've started, " Neumann said.

Faculty and staff praised Neumann and Bacon for changes they've made over the past decade, including the expansion of programs to increase parental support and the acquisition of a $1.2-million federal grant that Pinellas Park Elementary shares with two other schools to enhance education through technology.

Part of the legacy Neumann and Bacon leave behind is a science, technology and writing lab they created in an area that once housed two kindergarten classes. "It's all about their vision and leadership, " said Brennan, the Title I facilitator.

"I'm going to miss the friendship and all of the help they've given me over the years. You say 'I need help' and they're right there, " said data prep clerk Kathy Chancey.

Several staffers said the two women made Pinellas Park Elementary feel like a family.

"Twenty-nine babies have been born since (Neumann and Bacon) have been here, and they're all named Vivian Nancy, " volunteer coordinator/guidance assistant Malissa Pierce said jokingly.

[Last modified June 2, 2007, 20:50:26]