Retired Arts Educators

Gone but not forgotten

Retired music educator Paul Greenstone assisting in a summer music program in Lake Region Summer Band Program for students entering Gr. 5 through high school. Shirts designed by Paul’s son, Andrew Greenstone. Photo by music educator Jenni Null who is recently retired and teaching one day a week.

As we know the field of education is changing right before our eyes – sometimes with us at the table and some days we wake up and wonder how we got where we are. Some of this has to do with a generation of educators retiring. The numbers are on the increase and the list of openings at this time of year is larger than normal, according to communications. The statewide census that the Maine Arts Commission conducted provided us with all kinds of information including the number of school districts who have non-certified educators. We also know that in some arts disciplines, the number of undergraduate students in our field is smaller this year. Both of these are concerns.

I keep thinking about the number of retired teachers who still have so much to offer. I’m hearing about several who are teaching one or two days a week in schools that have a need for a part-time arts educator. I’m also aware of educators who are volunteering in their communities and/or schools to help support the education of young people. If you’re one of these educators, THANK YOU you for stepping up and continuing to use your teaching skills!

Doesn’t matter what age you are or how long you’ve been teaching, I suggest that you consider who is available to assist you and consider the many retired arts educators when you hear of opportunities. Both the Maine Music Educators Association and the Maine Art Education Association knows who has retired in the past few years plus I have blogged about the retirees for the last five years. Don’t hesitate to reach out – these are ways to advocate and gain support for yourself and your program. We know that young people are the ones who will benefit!

Barbara and Paul Go To Europe

What a trip

Many of you know Paul Greenstone who retired as music educator from Lake Region Schools in June 2017. Others of you know Barbara Greenstone who worked with teachers and students and technology in the Boothbay Schools until she retired in June also. Earlier in her career she provided professional development as part of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) team, and earlier still she was a middle school Language Arts teacher.

Music, art and history have always been important to them so they decided to take the trip of a lifetime – 3 weeks in Europe traveling independently and part of the trip with Viking River Cruises. They left on November 2 and had a whirlwind of a trip with stops in Rome, Florence, Milan, Zurich, Salzburg, Vienna to the cruise on the Danube from Budapest to Nuremberg.

Their tour started in Rome where they visited Bernini’s sculptures at the Borghese Gallery, spent an evening at the Opera Roma to see La Traviata, visited the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. From there they trained to Florence and visited Michelangelo’s David (one of my favorite memories) and the Museum of Musical Instruments where there were several Stradivarius violins.

You can read all about the details from above and much, much more. Go ahead and dream and consider where you might want to travel to in the near future. (I suggest not waiting until you retire!) Barbara is a wonderful blogger and started To Italy and Beyond to document their trip and share their adventures with their friends and family. If you want to read from the start to finish I suggest that you scroll down to the bottom of the blog. Thank you Barbara Greenstone for sharing your stories!

Happy Retirement!

Maine is fortunate to have such marvelous educators!

We know that what a teacher offers can have an enormous impact on student development day to day AND over their lifetime. As educators retire at the close of another school year, 2016-17, I know that you will join me in THANKING them for their years of service and dedication to students across the state. I certainly appreciate the commitment from the following educators and I wish each of you a healthy retirement and many, many years of laughter and love!

• LINDA BABB, RSU#25, Bucksport, visual art, 47 years
• SUE BOISVERT, Scarborough, music
• JIM BROWN, China Middle School, music. 16+ years
• MARY DEVENNEY, Erskine Academy, visual art, 18 wonderful years
• DEBBIE DiGREGORIO, C.K. Burns School, Saco, visual art, 32 years
• WES FRANKLIN, Greely High School, visual art, 35 years
• PAUL GREENSTONE, Lake Region High School + other schools over the years, music, 40+ years of teaching
• SUSAN HANSON, Blue Point and Eight Corners School, grades K-2, visual art, 31 years
• KENNETH JONES, North Haven Community School, grades K-12, visual art, dance, theater, 24 years
• MARGIE LANDIS, Mt. Ararat High School, music, 30 years
• BETH LIBBY, Wentworth School, grades 3-5, visual art, 36 years
• ROBERT HELSTROM, Hodgdon, music
• CHERYL McGOWAN, Skowhegan Area Middle School, music, 36 very full years
• BETTY MCINTYRE, Windham High School, music, 32 years
• PAUL SCHNELL, George E. Jack and Edna Libby Schools in Standish (SAD/RSU 6), incredible music teacher, 40 years
• JOYCE St. PIERRE, Sanford Schools, elementary visual art, 40 years
• SARAH STUART, Mattanawcook Junior High School, Lincoln, visual art, 40 years
• PAM TURCOTTE, Winthrop Grade School, visual art, 37 years
• Wes Franklin, Visual Art, Greely High School, 35 years

Together these teachers have taught for over 500 years! WOWZER! If you or someone you know is not on the list and retiring please email me and I’d be glad to add them to the list. Thanks!

In and email from Joyce St. Pierre

Art in a room, from a box going floor to floor and room to room, on a cart and in a beautiful art room….all my experiences.

Taught from 6 to 12 classes a day, in 4 to 7 buildings a week, in 22 schools located by lakes, in mountains, towns and cities!

Students ranged from pre-K to K – 6, HS, college, adult ed, and an alternative school.

It’s been fun, frustrating, exhilarating, challenging, expected and unexpected…all over and more…

I’ve worked with some of the best people in the world!

Wouldn’t have changed a thing.

In an email from Kenneth Jones

I have been the k-12 Visual Art teacher from 1998 to 2010 and since then I’ve taught Visual Art k-4 and 9-12. During the entire time I was also the k-12 Physical Education teacher from 1993-2017. Inside of the P.E. job I’ve leaned heavily on my BFA in Dance and Theater. I choreographed all of the John Wulp productions on North Haven (including “Islands”) and produced a Circus Arts presentation every other year for the past twelve years that is full of dance. Every three years I’ve led an “Empty Bowls” fund raiser- focused on a different food bank in Maine or in the world.

Janis (my wife and the k-12 French teacher at NHCS) are off to Durres, Albania where she has accepted a job teaching 2-8 French and TEFL English on the high school level at the Albanian College- Durres. I’ve been promised that they will find a way to keep me busy. I’m taking my bike so I will, very happily, peddle Albania .

Thank you for all of your support over the years. I have benefited tremendously from the conferences I have attended over the years. They serve such an important role for any teachers in isolated positions. I remember your journey to North Haven when North Haven was recognized for Excellence in the Arts. As I recall, it was a bit of a sloppy day on the water!

It has been quite a run on the island but we are both excited for this next adventure.

Veterans Day Celebration Through the Arts

Veterans Day at Lake Region High School

What a wonderful array of music, dance and voice that filled Lake Region High School in honor of our veterans on Veterans Day. Amongst our honored veterans and special guests were  Maine’s First Lady, Ms. Ann LePage, and Ms. Elizabeth Watson, Chair of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education. Parents, the entire student body and faculty cheered and applauded as music, voice and dance performances were presented. The high school choir under direction of Mr. Eugene Long, and the school band under direction of Mr. Paul Greenstone, played and sang a medley of patriotic songs to honor our veterans. Their voices and notes filled the gym with pride and energy amongst deep appreciation from the audience. The dancers, under the direction of Ms. Carmel Collins, dressed in army uniforms, took the veterans back to the 1940’s with a rendition of the popular Andrew’s Sisters song ‘Boogie, Woogie, Bugle Boy.’ This was followed by a lyrical dance to the song ‘The River Flows in You,’ by Yiruma. The dance was symbolic of how love, pride, and prayers flow like a river through each member of the U.S. armed forces wherever they are. The final dance  was performed to Toby Keith’s ‘Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.‘ As dancers took to the floor dressed in sequined shirts sporting the initials USA, cheers filtered through the crowd. It was a wonderful day of celebration rolling in on the waves of the arts.

Thank you to Carmel Collins for providing the blog post information and the photographs.

Lake Region Celebrates Dance and Music

Yesterday at the Blaine House

LRHS students perform a jazz number

The Celebration of Arts Education was held yesterday at the Blaine House and Department of Education recognizing the outstanding arts education programs at Lake Region School District. The art exhibit presently at the Maine Department of Education is a photography show. The photographs depict the dance program at Lake Region High School (LRHS), many of the photographs are taken by LRHS students.

At Blaine House yesterday we were honored to have two student musical groups and one dance performance. The students engagement was obvious throughout the ceremony. One of the songs was written by a 6th grader on the topic of about bullying. The student now in 7th grade was performed by three students.

Dance educator Carmel Collins introduces the dancers and dance number

Mr. James Banks, former chair of the Maine State Board helped to present the students with certificates and art buttons. Afterwards students and their families enjoyed cookies and punch in the dining room of the Blaine House. Afterwards students and their families walked across the street to view the photographs on the 5th floor of the Department. It was a great afternoon of celebration.

You can view all of the photographs which will remain until September 30th and can be viewed during regular business hours.  All of the photographs are online on the meartsed blog. The link is located on the front page under “Info” along with the other past student exhibits from the Department of Education.

Family and friends of Hayley Allen gather by her photograph for a picture

Thank you to Janet Gallagher for taking photographs at the Blaine House.

Playing at the State House

Laken Region Middle School band goes to the State House

On Thursday morning, January 26, 20012, thirty-seven students from Lake Region Middle School, under the direction of band instructor Paul Greenstone, loaded their instruments onto a yellow school bus and headed up the Maine Turnpike to our state capital building in Augusta.  There they were scheduled to perform a short concert in the rotunda and then to open that day’s House session by playing the National Anthem from the house gallery.  They were invited to perform by their local representative,  Paul Waterhouse.

The ride to Augusta was fairly quiet. The students were nervous.  All previous concerts had definitely been much more low key – holiday concerts for parents, playing at the quarterly honors assemblies – this day registered much higher on the status bar for the group!  Add the fact that no sheet music would be in front of them during the National Anthem, and  it is easy to understand why there was none of the typical middle school high jinks on that morning’s bus ride.

Upon arriving at the State House, quickly unloading gear, and  smoothly passing through the new security system, band members found their positions, took up their instruments, and when Director Paul Greenstone raised his baton, the lilting strains of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Flowers” resonated through the building!  That was followed by several patriotic selections and the finale was a splendid rendition of the theme from “Harry Potter”.

How different and wonderful their musical selections sounded in this auspicious venue!  Sound bounced everywhere!  The music was heard all over the building, and enjoyed by everyone.

Moving into the House Chamber, nerves calmed and pride swelled as the Star Spangled Banner was performed flawlessly for the assembled state lawmakers and invited guests.  After being recognized by the House Speaker, band members watched the legislature’s proceedings for a short time before breaking down their instruments and loading back in the bus for the trip home.

Spirits were pretty high on that ride back to the Lakes Region, and why not?  They had played well, represented their school admirably, and most importantly, had shared their joy in making music with others.  The arts programs in our schools make us all part of a better community.

Music students being recognized by the House

Thank you to parent and community member from Naples, Maine who traveled with the students to the State House and who kindly wrote this blog post.