What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life_ - Bruce Frankel [102]
Nancy delighted in the experience of having her own class, and one day near the end of the year, she approached the principal’s secretary. She wanted to ask Voelkel a question. “He’s such a good guy, I’m afraid he’ll lie,” she sputtered. “So I figured if I asked you to ask him, he would tell you the truth.” Farndell was puzzled. It wasn’t like Nancy Gagliano to be indirect or fearful. “My God, Nancy, what is the question?” she said.
“I would like to become a full-time teacher, but is there a principal in his right mind who would hire a sixty-six-year-old woman as a new teacher?” she asked.
Nancy had already computed that it would take her three years to complete the twelve basic elementary education courses, five ESOL (English as a second language) courses, and three state exams required for certification by the State of Florida. Farndell laughed and headed down the hall to the principal’s office. The would-be teacher didn’t know what to do with herself while she waited. She went into the faculty mailroom and pretended to look for her mail. Then she heard the principal’s secretary yell, “Nancy, Mr. Voelkel says that no principal in his right mind would hire an old bag like you to be a teacher!”
Knowing with certainty that Mr. Voelkel was too sincere to ever say anything of the kind, she just imagined him raising his eyes and thinking, God deliver me from such women! Realizing that she was about to step across the threshold to the dream of her lifetime, Nancy Gagliano doubled over in laughing disbelief.
She began her course work that summer and, though it did take her three years to complete, as soon as a regular full-time second-grade teaching position opened for the start of the 2002-2003 school year, Voelkel hired Nancy.
“I don’t look at age. I look at the person. Life experience brings a lot to the teacher and the classroom. I know this may get me in trouble with some, but a college degree doesn’t necessarily make you a teacher. It’s your understanding of children and your compassion for them. It’s your ability to relate to children and get across concepts that is most important,” said Voelkel, a big, pale, gentle man. A career educator, he had been the principal at Banyan for twelve years. During that time, he frequently had to struggle with changing teaching requirements to meet augmented state standards and new statewide student testing. Finding qualified teachers for an expanding student population was not easy, he said. He was already anticipating the difficulties that would arise when his school population was divided in 2009, for the fourth time in his tenure. By the spring of 2008, the school’s population of 995 had surpassed its designed capacity by more than two hundred students. (In 2007-2008, 10 percent of the students were Asian, 35 percent black, 20 percent Hispanic, and 35 percent white.)
As an educator, Voelkel was tickled by Nancy’s vivacity and motivation. Her complete dedication to her students has been even more impressive, he said.
“She has the kids’ best interest at heart, and that’s what’s important. She will go out of her way to make accommodations for a child. She wants kids to succeed. We’re a school that has a lot of after-school events, and Nancy is always there. She doesn’t have to be, but she is. If it’s McDonald’s Night or Dairy Queen Night, Nancy is there, and she’ll probably bring a camera to take pictures of the kids.” In a school with so much transition, Nancy’s energetic, engaged, and nurturing presence is critical.
Typically, she arrives at school at 7:30 A.M. She is often still in her portable classroom, grading papers or preparing her lessons for the next day, long after dismissal. Her colleagues love to tell the story of the night she became so distracted by her work, she lost track of time. It was already 7 P.M. when she realized she needed to get home to make dinner for Jim. She hurried from her portable classroom and across