Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for May 16, 2006 MISS HALEY RETIRES AT 69...

That's NOT 69 years old...that's 69 years of teaching!

From the Miami Herald...

After spending the equivalent of two careers in the classroom, Florida's longest-serving public school teacher is retiring at last.

BY MARGARIA FICHTNER
mfichtner@MiamiHerald.com

LAKELAND - Six-forty-five in the morning, the classroom is dark and locked, and, dear heaven, Miss Haley is missing!

''She's always here by this time,'' says a student slumped at the foot of a nearby staircase, prompting an ominous twinge that perhaps the excitement of yesterday's boisterous retirement party over at First United Methodist, plus the prospect of teaching the creepy witches scene from Macbeth today for the gazillionth time, might have precipitated an unfortunate . . . well, never mind. And then a tiny, stooped figure rounds the corner and begins her sedate shuffle down the hall.

''I don't ever remember being late,'' Miss Haley says, eyes gleaming. ``I get up at 10 minutes to five, and I sign in between six-oh-five and six-oh-seven. This is what I'm locked into. This morning I did not open my baby blues until almost 6:30, so anybody who comes in tardy today has my sympathy.''

The end of the year always is a time of celebration and parting, but these days at Lakeland Senior High school, a deep velvet finality accompanies the rituals of transition and farewell. Hazel Haley, at 89 the longest-serving public-school teacher in Florida -- and, as far as anyone knows, in the country -- is retiring after 69 years, 67 of them in this school, 54 in this book-crammed, pink classroom. A few years ago, the Florida Legislature ruled school districts could hang on to veteran teachers, but now time has run out, and Miss Haley must go. Network camera crews have dropped by to record the milestone. Miss Haley's beloved LHS Dreadnaughts may have snared the national football title this year, but there is no question as to who the school's real champ is.

''She's the teacher I'll remember all my life,'' says senior Travis Britton. From now on, everything about this place will occur within a new, peculiar context: missing Miss Haley.

''I've always said that . . . we're such a big place, there's not anything that actually stops the world,'' says Mark Thomas, the first LHS principal in decades who will have to make decisions by himself. `` . . . The nice thing is, the kids next year won't know what they missed. I think they'll get a great education. I think they'll learn a lot about British literature, . . . but Hazel is Hazel.''

13,500 STUDENTS

Through the years, Miss Haley has taught an estimated 13,500 students, including Lawton Chiles, Florida's late governor and former U.S. senator. But he was no more adorable or beloved than anyone in this semester's three senior honors English classes.

''My inspiration every day comes from the satisfaction of being with these young people,'' Miss Haley says. ``You know, they give you so much back that is stimulating, exciting and fun, and that every day I will miss. That's been an integral part of my life for most of my life. I depend on it. It's not approval, . . . although sometimes I get that, and sometimes I don't. But it's a life force. It's an energy that comes from the children that nothing else can replace.''

Today's text is Macbeth's woeful Act IV, so murky with eye of newt, fearsome apparitions and murder, but the lesson, as always, quickly ricochets from the literary to the personal. ''Dears, we've all agreed that the second or third time that you do something you know is wrong, it's easier,'' Miss Haley says. ``When you sneak out on your parents, and you don't get caught, it becomes easier to sneak out a second and a third time.''

TEACHING ABOUT LIFE

''She doesn't just teach you about English, but she teaches you about life,'' says senior Tori Harvey, whose mother once sat in this classroom, too.

''She just lets you know that you are special,'' says Robin Harris, class of 1987, who named her 11-year-old daughter Haley, because, ``when you're in high school, you don't really know which way you're going. She just made me interested in school again. She made it exciting to learn.''

Harris and her daughter were among more than 500 fans -- community leaders, co-workers, friends, students and alums, even Miss Haley's mailman -- sipping punch and nibbling on cake and homemade cookies at the frothy Queen for a Day retirement party at the church. ''She said she remembered me,'' says Jo Kelly of Brandon, class of 1940, who turns 80 in July.

``Of course, she says that to everybody, but she might. I never forgot her.''

Here are a few things to remember about Miss Haley: She was a student here herself, graduating in 1933. She has never married and lives alone, but every student she has ever taught is dearly regarded as ''my child.'' She drives to school in Earl, her 1988 Grand Marquis. She is a lifelong Anglophile and will happily show off letters from Margaret Thatcher and the Queen.

An accomplished motivational speaker, she believes that life is a series of little joys.

She believes it is a long string of choices, that each choice exacts a consequence, and if you choose to say something naughty on the video being shot for your retirement party, you must be genteel when the editor calls your bluff and lets you spill these spicy beans: ``I love being with the children. . . . That's my whole life every single day, but when I come home, then I'm ready to close the door, take off my clothes and run naked through the house.''

Senior Krista Hulvebos says her sister had Miss Haley three years ago, ``and she'd always come home with these stories. Kids say that they relate closest to younger teachers, but Miss Haley beats them all, because she knows us. . . . I wish I could take her to college with me.''

LAST DAY OF TEACHING

Well, Krista cannot, but when Miss Haley leaves this classroom for the last time, she is not taking everything she might need, either, just that pink plush bear over in the corner, the lady-writers umbrella that hangs over her speaker's stand and her British flag. And that will be that. Or maybe not.

''I'm a great compensator, and I will find something else to do,'' Miss Haley says. ``I laughingly say I have had three job offers, so I may go to work.''

In the meantime, though, ``All right, sweethearts. Anybody have a question? Put the books up for me, boys. That's very kind. You're very thoughtful. OK, dears. Bye, sweetheart. Bye, little one. Bye, darling. Aren't they adorable?

``Bye.''