MORGANTOWN — Sure, there’s “retirement,” (more on those quotation marks later), which is what Diane Griffin-Donley is doing Wednesday June 6.
That’s the last day of school in Monongalia County, and that’s when Griffin-Donley caps her 43-year teaching career, 35 of which were spent at Ridgedale Elementary School, on Goshen Road.
But, if there’s retirement, there’s also Ridgedale-Royal Retirement, and Griffin-Donley got to experience a bit of that on a rainy Thursday last week.
You know: Ridgedale-Royal Retirement.
The three R’s.
Which makes it even more appropriate for the school’s beloved teacher of special education, Principal Sheri Petitte said.
And all Griffin-Donley had to do was go to her car for a folder or two of supplemental classroom material. She always has those. She’s always working, too. Evenings, weekends.
It was during her planning period, early in the afternoon.
Her colleagues already had it worked out.
The teacher didn’t necessarily have to exit the building to make it work.
She wouldn’t have seen it coming anyway, since her classroom is tucked down a far hallway of the school.
Ridgedale is nothing but a maze of hallways to begin with — as the building has been regularly added on through the years to accommodate the county’s population growth.
When she walked back in, she was greeted by the entire population of Ridgedale Elementary.
Students, teachers, teacher aides, custodians, everyone.
They were applauding, and Petitte was smiling.
Round of applause and a runway walk
Since Petitte is the boss of the school, she got to give an order to Griffin-Donley, who laughingly complied.
At the principal’s direction, the outgoing teacher perched a costume-jewelry tiara on her head, and a sash over her shoulder, which, in fancy-cursive, spelled out one word: “Retired.”
Somebody cued up the music. “My Way,” by Sinatra.
And the teacher did a runway walk down each hallway, in that school full of hallways, taking care to give a (modified) pageant- wave to her public, at every turn.
“I don’t guess you can go wrong with The Chairman of the Board,” the teacher-of-honor said, in reference to the music selection.
Petitte deemed the event, “The Great ‘Clap-Out,’” for the beloved teacher.
“Anything for Ms. Griffin-Donley,” the principal said.
“So many kids, so many parents. She’s made a real impact on a lot of lives in our Ridgedale family.”
Anything for Mrs. Jones, Griffin-Donley replied, in return.
A favorite teacher remembers her favorite teacher
Mrs. Jones — Mary Elizabeth Jones — was a memorable teacher for her, back in Wheeling.
Her favorite at Fulton Elementary, in fact. Her favorite for all time.
Griffin-Donley had her for first and second grades.
As busy as the teacher was, her former pupil remembered, she never failed to stop and take the time with every student — not just the stars who raised their hands every half-minute.
“She’s absolutely why I wanted to become a teacher,” Griffin-Donley said.
“It was that way she had with kids.”
It was getting close to the end of the school day, on that rainy Thursday last week, and Griffin-Donley’s classroom was depleted of the fuel that keeps it going
All the seats were empty, but the evidence of more than three decades’ of guidance and learning was very much there.
It was found on her desk, heaping with handouts and manila folders and graded assignments.
It was found on the wall, with that prominently displayed poster and its mission, in happy-font: “Today is a great day … to learn EVERYTHING.”
It was found in the stacks of that oft-copied, “You’re a very special person” teacher’s poem, with its stanza-to-arms: “The one thing I try to teach you/To last your whole life through/Is to know that you are special/Just because you’re you.”
Each student in her class gets a copy, personally addressed, with encouraging notes penned in the margins by the teacher.
“You get a lot of little victories, when you teach special education,” she said.
You clear a lot of hurdles. I’ll have students say, ‘I can’t do this,’ and I always say, ‘Sure you can, because we’re gonna sit down and work through it together.’ Then, when that light goes on, and they realize they can do it, that’s everything.”
Teachers keep on teaching
It won’t be the end of everything next fall, she said. That’s where the aforementioned quotes on the R-word — retirement — come in.
Griffin-Donley will do some substitute teaching next fall in Preston County and Loudoun County, Va., where her daughter, son-in-law and new grandchild reside.
“I’ll get to spend more time with them and I won’t be completely away from the classroom. Teachers never really ‘retire’ anyway.”
And who knows? She might even get another tiara and sash out of the deal.
