Happy on a Monday

By JerEcho Staff

One of this year’s retirees Ms. Kowalski has this question and answer, “What do you call a person who is happy on a Monday? RETIRED!”

It is with bittersweet feelings that we honor this year’s retirees. We will miss them, but wish them only the best in their retirement.

Ms. Bensen has been a proud member of the Jericho School District’s Social Studies department since 1989. After 32 years of teaching, Ms. Bensen will retire with a legacy of reaching students through their studies of history and current events. She has forged “lovely friendships” with her colleagues and cherishes the enthusiasm and energy of the Jericho student body. Following retirement, Ms. Bensen plans on visiting the National Parks in Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. After many years of teaching and relationships, Ms. Bensen’s parting words are those stated by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Hitch your wagon to a star.”

After 24 years, beloved English teacher Mr. Darr will be retiring. Mr. Darr has many fond memories of both his time teaching and creating bonds with “amazing, compassionate, resilient, creative and fun colleagues.” His favorite classroom memories are when students confided in him, when they surprised him making  big leaps in their personal or academic lives and when he learned new things about literary works from students’ comments and perspectives. Mr. Darr could often be found “hamming it up” for his students while performing iconic Shakespeare plays like “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet.” He will miss the school environment where teaching and learning is an expectation, noting that Jericho High School is one of the few places in the world where students and teachers are able to read, write, discover and discuss without feeling out of place. In retirement, Mr. Darr plans to travel, visit many museums and spend time in nature. He reminds us that, “Life is too interesting to put any limits on it.” Mr. Darr’s advice is, “Work for the good of others, and don’t fool yourself when you’re not.” 

After 20 years as a science teacher and, currently, Special Education Facilitator, Ms. Kowalski leaves Jericho High School for the next chapter of her life. Ms. Kowalski says she had so many great memories, including all the laughs over the years, and certainly agrees that time flies when you’re having fun.  She has also made lifelong friends that she will treasure forever, and respects this most professional and caring group of people who she worked with day after day. Ms. Kowalski plans to move down South right after the end of classes. Her parting words to her students are, “Life is short. Live it!”

Ms. Levine will be retiring after 18 years as a speech teacher. While she has enjoyed much during her time at Jericho, she will miss learning from her students the most. Although she will no longer be teaching, her plans for life are to be grateful for every minute, take care of those around her, and make sure that she is making someone’s life better every day, including her own. Her parting words to her students are, “Take everything you can get from your teachers and run with it, you’ll get far.”

Ms. Rosenfeld joins the ranks of retirees after 21 years of serving the Jericho community as Learning Center 504 Coordinator. She will miss sharing time every day with all of her colleagues and students, and is extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to support students and their needs. In her retirement, Ms. Rosenfeld looks forward to spending a lot of her new free time in the warm weather, soaking up the sun. Her parting words to her fellow educators and students are, “Always put out positive thoughts into the universe.”

Speech teacher Ms. Stacie Fleischmann is also retiring this year, and we wish her health and happiness as she moves forward.