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In 1982, the school had (roughly) 66 teachers, 3 administrators, 5 guidance counselors,
2 nurses, 8 auxiliary personnel, and 7 members of the office staff.
UPDATE:
To compare, I tried to count today's faculty and staff. I counted
103 teachers, 6 administrators, 8 guidance counselors,
2 nurses, 23 auxiliary personnel, and 8 members of the office staff.
(Gee, I think the staff has grown just a touch since 1982!)
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Apparently, it's hard to get tenure at the high school? Who knew? (p.12)
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At the school,
the faculty parking lot is filled with old cars. (p.3)
UPDATE:
Today, the faculty lot is filled with plenty of nice modern cars,
plus many large SUVs, too. And even some fancy hybrids! I haven't
seen a Gremlin or Pinto in quite awhile.
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A consistent theme within the book is that many of the staff seems to resent the "preppiness" of the
students (this is 1982 of course), and enjoyed being quite smug about it.
This resentment seemed to be focused on the Izod
alligator and all it represented! (p.5) (Hey, I always liked that little
guy on our shirts!)
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Another teacher is quoted as saying that there are more alligators on
on the chests of the students than there were in the Florida Everglades. (p.4)
UPDATE:
Thanks to conservation measures and changing fashion trends,
there are tens of thousands more alligators in the Everglades now!
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Coffee is a recurring theme in the book.
The administrators in the main office had a coffee pot and made coffee for themselves,
but the teachers weren't allowed to have any. (p.21)
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Teachers weren't allowed to have coffee in the classrooms.
Sadly, there wasn't anywhere in town to buy coffee before 9:00 am.,
so the teachers were advised to bring their own coffee from home. (p.21)
UPDATE:
Today, the Mendham grocery store Kings (formally Foodtown) sells
Green Mountain coffee roasters, starting at 7:00 am! But I'm sure the faculty could just
stop at the nearest Dunkin Donuts on the way to school, too!
Problem solved!
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Remember Activity Period? It was the few minutes after 1st period,
where the teacher had to take attendance, salute the flag (if the room
had one), and
read the daily bulletin! The teachers had to send the "absent" and
"present" envelopes to the main office - if they forgot, watch out -
the secretaries would hunt them down on the intercom system.
UPDATE:
If you miss hearing the bulletin nowadays, no problem! It's all online on
their website!
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The faculty men's bathroom near the lobby had one open stall
toilet, and 2 sinks (p.15). (Yeah, we really wanted to know
about toilets! Thanks a lot, Mr. Palonsky!  )
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Lobby duty was considered a plum role for a teacher. Tougher
assignments were Quiet Study and Cafeteria!
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Check out these stats from the past:
Mr. Palonsky is to receive $30,000 a year, which is way high
for a social studies teacher. Usually only good
math or science teachers would get that much. The principal
only made $32,000.
UPDATE:
The top teachers now make $91,000! Times have changed!
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The Social Studies teachers don't like teaching
Freshman Social Studies. (p. 9) (Hey, freshmen aren't that bad!)
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One teacher says that no one cares about C-Level (also called
academic or college prep) students. (Hey!! C-Level students are
awesome people, you know!  )
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Most teachers taught 5 classes, with 2 duty assignments.
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The head custodian is a character named Mr. Churchill.
Whenever he entered a classroom, he captured all the attention
of all the students, and the teachers had a hard time regaining
the focus of the class. (He fascinated us students because we
were hoping the light bulb he was fixing was oozing toxic
fumes, and hence we were all in grave danger,
so we would have to cancel class and leave early!)
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The teachers in the lower Social Studies hall were suppose to
keep their blinds up at the end of the day, so all the rooms had
even blinds, so they would look good from the athletic fields below.
(No idea if this is still true.)
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One math teacher fined students for minor infractions like
tardiness or coming to class without a pencil, and at the end
of the year they would have a pizza and soda party with the
accumulated money. (I have no idea who this was - anyone know?).
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Teachers who had lobby duty had responsibilities like picking
up litter, and making sure only 4 kids were at the round tables,
and 7 kids at the rectangular tables. And shooing kids away from
the big window overlooking the Gym. And to keep the noise level
to a not-too-loud murmur. (p. 31)
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Teachers aren't allowed to leave the grounds during the school
day. (p. 32)
UPDATE:
Was this really enforced back then?
I know they all leave nowadays, though! I run into teachers at the bank, and
see some jogging around town. I
also used to see a group of female teachers eating at the Country Coffee
Shop (always the period after lunch, too!). They get out!
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A social studies teacher named Mike Werge loves pizza with green
beans, washed down with chocolate milk. (Is he kidding?)
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The faculty room was right near the cafeteria. Part of it was
a smoking area, and part was non-smoking. There was a phone there,
and teachers were only supposed to use it for school-related business, and
use payphones for personal calls. But many would use the faculty room
phone for personal calls anyways, and the other teachers would overhear
and know their personal business.
UPDATE:
Nowadays, I am sure they all have cell phones! Problem solved!
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It's a cardinal sin for a teacher to be unable to control their
classroom enough so that the noise level disturbs neighboring
classes. (p. 41)
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A Friday afternoon ritual was for teachers to go to the
local bar (maybe the old Mendham Pub, where Italian restaurant Dante's is now?) and
chat about school politics and personnel.
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When Mr. Palonsky found out he acquired the nickname "Papa Smurf",
he had to do some research to find out who he was! And he was
relieved to discover that Papa Smurf is a good guy, so Mr. Palonsky
was OK with the name. Some other teachers had not-so-nice
nicknames. (p. 48)
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On page 56, we are introduced to a character, an English teacher
named Willa Green.
(Wonder who that could be based on???). She is described as strict and
rule-enforcing, hard-working and grimly serious. Hmmmm ...
She pops up many times in the book, and is the sole female
teacher ever focused on. You would think she was the only female
teacher in the entire school.
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The book uses the word "photostat" and I am not even sure
what that means!
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Exciting news! Social Studies teacher Mike Werge has a VCR!
This is great for the department! Now they can show videos all the time.
It sure is better than using the filmstrip projector, and much
better than the 16mm antiquated projectors, which eat films anyways. (p.59)
UPDATE:
I sure hope Mike Werge bought himself a DVD player by now!
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With so many teachers competing to use the photocopier machine,
it was no surprise when it died mid-year. The principal was
proud to buy a nice new one that could copy on both sides,
reduce in 2 sizes, collate, staple, and copy blue originals
(whatever that means). (p. 61)
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Predictably, the teachers generally preferred teaching seniors,
and A-Level
(advanced) or Honors courses (no IB back then!). Freshmen were
at the low end of the hierarchy. Some teachers did like teaching
the lower C-Level classes (also called academic or college prep), as
they felt they could make more of an impact as a teacher.
(p.66)
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Palonsky's freshman Social Studies classes had to type a paper.
The students asked if they could use a word processor. Palonsky
says yes, it's all right, but they have to rip off the
perforated edges before handing it in. This was the first time
he was asked about computer-generated papers (p. 76).
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Surprisingly, getting decent textbooks for the entire class was
a constant problem. There simply weren't enough of them. (You
would think a wealthy district like Mendham/Chester wouldn't
have that problem, but it was.) Palonsky's half-year Sociology
class had no decent textbook, and he considered it his
worst, least-enjoyable class. (p.80)
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The faculty room gets mentioned often in the book.
Apparently, it usually was just a mess! And there was a little
problem with flies! And the tables had tablecloths on them which
were hardly ever washed. Some staff members would use a pen to
circle stains on the tablecloths and write the date, just to see
how long it would stay there between washings. (p.85)
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Oh dear - the teachers swear in the faculty room! An English teacher
known for crude humor yells the 4-letter s word! (Stop ruining
my childhood here!! I didn't need to know that!) (p.86)
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Also occurring one day in the faculty room: after
a small argument,
the metal shop teacher picks up the
vice-principal and places him on a table! (Think anyone
could get away with that today? He would be sued for
assault or something! Lawyers everywhere! Well, now that I think
about it, this could never
happen today, since there is no Metal Shop anymore.) (p.86)
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In the faculty room, the female teachers would usually sit together, and male
ones tended to sit together. The female teacher's conversations
were more congenial and lofty than the men's. Men's conversations
were usually about sports or more low-brow topics in nature. (p.86)
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It is revealed that there usually was a shortage of
salt and pepper in the faculty room. (Wow, life's really
tough! I never knew.)(p.157)
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Some teachers did not like the faculty room, and avoided it. One
English teacher would eat lunch in the custodian's work room. (p.91)
(was that the boiler room underneath the cafeteria?)
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Here's some numbers from the past: A teacher with a bachelor's degree
and 10 years experience earned $19,000. With a master's degree plus
60 extra coursework hours, they could make $25,000.
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The teachers in general thought college education classes were useless and
did little to prepare them for the classroom. (No surprise there!)
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90% of the teachers thought inservice days were unhelpful,
uninteresting, and unstimulating. They did get free weak coffee and
partially frozen pastries, though! (But us students LOVED inservice days
since we get the day off!) (p.98)
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Back-to-School night was one of the only nights the faculty could
socialize. Since it would take too long to drive home after school
and then come back, some of the teachers would get together and
go out to dinner in town. (The only thing I remember about Back-to-School night
was the stinky stuff the teachers sprayed on the chalkboards to make
them extra clean!) (p.108)
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Teachers rarely had to break up fights among students. The
students never took a fight very far, since no one wanted
to wreck $2000 worth of orthodontia that most kids had. (p.117)
(Ha!! Nowadays, try $6000-$7000!)
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Salaries were so low that many teachers took extra jobs over
the summer. One teacher painted houses and
did construction. Another moved lawns. Another sold shoes. (p.120)
UPDATE:
I have some friends who teach in the district, and none work
over the summers. They either travel the whole summer (gone
from late June to late August) or stay home with their kids.
The only work I heard is maybe doing some tutoring.
Maybe times have really changed on this one.
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A guidance counselor says the school is very "cliqueish".
(Really???? On my goodness, I never knew!) (p.123)
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Since the teachers didn't have their own phones, it was very
hard for parents to speak to them. Therefore, most parents
instead had to talk to the guidance counselors. Teachers
resented this "middle-man" approach, since they couldn't solve the
issue without getting others involved.
UPDATE: Nowadays, they
have voicemail and email, too! Problem solved!
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The teachers could get a discount membership at the
Village Racquet Club. Teachers who went there would often work
out with students, and
get to know them well. The English teacher Willa Green played
racquetball (She did?? Who knew?). She wasn't very good,
but was respected for trying!
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There are many, many parts of the book that dwell on
typical teacher issues: lack of communication with the
administration; low morale; lack of positive encouragement;
isolation from colleagues;
low pay; etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. (Well, I guess it's
the main point of the book! I better at least mention it).
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The Social Studies department had the most teachers who also worked
as coaches. Which is really
convenient, since the Social Studies hall was right next to the
gym. (p.145)
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The book goes on and on and on and on about the importance of
a teacher being a coach, and how it made them more powerful, popular,
and recognized, and stuff like that. And how important
athletics are to the school. Just goes on and on and on and on and on.
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There's plenty of talk in the book about how much easier it is
to teach college-bound middle-class kids like the ones at Mendham. Most
kids wanted to do well academically to please their parents, and to get into the
very best colleges, which was expected of them.
Some teachers think the kids are almost too robotic and complacent,
though. And some teachers resented the difference in wealth
between them and the students. (So it was).
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The faculty had monthly meetings. They talked of new procedures
and policies (yawn). The meetings were on the second
Monday of the month, and started 10 minutes after the last
class ended (I guess about 2:50). Teachers were generally
bored out of their minds at these meetings. (p.149)
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It is revealed that the Social Studies teachers and the Foreign
Language teachers all had to share one lone typewriter. They
had to type everything on this one machine - their tests, letters home to
students, etc.
UPDATE:
Gosh, I hope these poor souls all have access to computers now!!
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There is an awesome math teacher named Larry Silverman, who
is on the administrative track to maybe become a
principal someday. It
is revealed that he perms his reddish hair. (WHAT?? I always
thought it was natural! Or just the way he combed it or
something! Men got perms? Who knew?)
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Once in the middle of the day,
there was a leak in the urinal in the boy's bathroom. It flooded
the lobby and shorted out the electricity! The principal was one
of the first people on the scene, and he stuck his finger in the broken
pipe to try to stop the flow of water. What a guy!
(But apparently it didn't work,
school was dismissed!) (p.6)
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And now, for the conclusion of this page, here is the
most shocking thing about the teachers that the
students never knew .... (drum roll, please)
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The yellow chalk was messier than
the white chalk! Yes, this jaw-dropping issue was actually mentioned in
the book! Who knew? (p.159)
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If you made it this far to the end of the page, Wow! I'm impressed! I'm glad you
had nothing better to do today. Hope
your childhoods aren't too ruined by all this top-secret information!
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Hi to Alumni (and others checking in!)
This page discusses what life was like for
the teachers at "Oldham High" around the years 1982-1983, as
revealed in the book 900 Shows A Year, written by Mendham's
own Social Studies teacher Mr. Stu Palonsky.
Much of the book is based on his experiences at Mendham, though
some of it is fictional, too.
Read here some secret things about the faculty of "Oldham High"
that students were never allowed to know, like
were they allowed to drink coffee at their desks?
Yes, some big issues are discussed here, prepare yourselves!
Some updated information is also included, to show how
things have changed.
