Old Building, Old Teachers, Old Bernards

We've written before about our gig as a high school substitute teacher at Barnards High School in Bernardsville, NJ. 

[One should pronounce Bernardsville in the English fashion, 'Bernids' -Ed]

Bernardsville is an old ritzy town with lots of old families and old money. One could read the memorial plaques in the park going back to the Great War and recognize the names because their great grand-kids were in the high school. There were some nouveau-riche too, and for some reason a large Paraguayan population.

We got there in 2002, ten years out of high school ourselves. That seemed like a long time back then.

As it turns out Bernards High was built in the 1930s as was our own Hen Hud, and we're willing to bet they were designed by the same architectural firm. Both original buildings had the same feel and layout with classrooms the same size. Yes it was a little weird at first.

Bernards High had teachers going back to the 30's too. Ok, ok, only back to the 1950s. That's right, there were guys who had been there for 50 years. One such teacher, in his mid 70's, told us that in 1955 the board paid him $5000 a year, and because he also coached football, they gave him an extra hundred. Another teacher also told us how early on they dated students, and how they used to take hard cases out into the back stairway and rough them up.

In seven years we learned a lot about what really goes on with teachers. To a man and woman they all bitched about how difficult the job is and how unappreciated they were. Parents are often the enemy for failing to see eye to eye with the teachers. From a lesson plan perspective lots of teachers were mailing it in, teaching the same thing year after year and year after year. One day in 2006 when subbing in civics class we were told to show a video aimed at young people. I popped it in the video and say a bunch of MTV VJs from my youth.

By the time we were getting ready to leave, this writing thing was heating up, lot's of those older teachers were getting ready to leave to.

It was time for us both.