From the heart

It is with bittersweet tears of joy that I say farewell to a trusted colleague, friend, peer, administrator, who is moving on to greener pastures. Of course, I'm describing Susan Hutchinson, our former science teacher come vice principal. She is leaving us now to become the new principal of Benicia Middle School. Lucky dogs.

In my career as a teacher I can say for the record that Susan Hutchinson is the administrator who has had the most direct concrete positive tangible effect on my classroom, our students, and my ability to teach.

When I took problems to her she could fix them while I was in the room. If it required a phone call, a purchase order, a student conference, it would happen right away.

As tech guy I could stop by her office and say, "We need six mice," and she'd say, "Pick 'em up," and I'd pick 'em up that night and install them the next morning.

Sometimes she'd be busy with 300 other things and she'd say to me at the door, "Steve, if it doesn't involve blood and flashing red lights, I don't want to hear about it right now."

Then I'd say, "No problem. You take it easy. I'll see you later."

Then she would smile and say, "You know I always take care of you, Steve."

"I know you do," I would say back, and I'd leave. The mice could wait.

"I always take care of you, Steve." These are Sue's magic words. I will remember her by those words. Whenever she said them I felt warm and fuzzy. I felt appreciated.

Sue is a techie herself, like me, you see, so there we have an empathy. She's been fiddling with computers for as long as I have. She takes them apart, builds her own, installs components and software. She knows from her inner core being how important technology is to a modern developed public education.

She has helped me hold our threadbare technological shoestrings together over these many years with spit and polish. Together, with ingenuity and petty cash we have patched a lot of holes. Now that we have come into some real money to accomplish some major goals, she's gone. That's sad for us, but it's good news for all our friends at BMS.

Middle school teachers are going to find in Susan a compassionate heart, a quick mind, and an array of kind gestures. She is fun to work with because she's sincere in her enthusiasm and works side by side with teachers, not above and beyond them. She takes on big tasks and gets things done in a way that makes everyone look good. She does not shy away from difficult decisions, nor does she hesitate to delegate responsibility and authority to the people around her.

I will especially miss her at faculty meetings. No gathering was so serious that Sue Hutchinson couldn't find an opportunity to include a wee bit of comic relief. The other admins would stand up and talk policy. When it was Sue's turn, she would talk policy, too, but not before a bit of levity. At the start of the school year, Sue would prepare survival kit gags for new teachers. At in-service training sessions, she'd start us off with an appropriate Top 10 List, or share a funny story. It was just enough to remind us that we are all friends and that teaching is fun.

In many ways, teaching is also a lot about saying good-bye. We must say good-bye to everyone eventually. Great kids come along. We make friends. We work together side by side for years, teachers and students sharing and encouraging each other, and then the kids graduate. They move on. We teachers stay behind to welcome the next batch. It's emotionally wrenching.

Sometimes our peers and colleagues move on, too. That's extra tough because we are each other's anchors. We are the only constants.

Teachers bond and bid adieu.

A brief rotation, then you're through.

You've got better things to do,

And so do we, and so does Sue.