Letter from an Old Friend

The recent events in South Hadley have really shaken the educators in this town, the parents, and community as a whole. The teachers and administrators that I work with are all dedicated professionals that truly care about the well being of all their students. Is there room for change in South Hadley and school districts throughout this country? YES!! I hope to be part of that change by dedicating myself to MORE extensive cyberbullying curriculum, participating in the Anti - Bullying Task force, and hopefully working a cyberbullying professional development presentation for educators.

I was really affected by the negative attacks from the media, blogs, forums, and social network sites that were attacking the education system where I have worked for the last 10 years. I as well as my colleagues have dedicated our lives to our profession and do it to the best of our ability and to hear what I did really shook me up. I do not believe that the teachers at the high school are any different than any other school in this country. I have done extensive professional development presentations throughout the country and have never found the teachers in South Hadley to have any less professionalism that those from other districts.

I recently received a letter from a student that I had 10 years ago when I was teaching my first class. It came at the most opportune moment in my life. I needed a real kick in the butt to put what I am doing back in perspective. I need to move forward with my teaching keep making changes where they need to be made and never forget that I am here for the students not the Boston Herald, the Springfield Republican, the local news stations, nasty blogs, or the MassLive forums.

Here is the letter I received that has put my career back into perspective after all the events here in South Hadley. I have changed some names so that they do not get targeted by some of the negative people who do not want to see any good in people.

Hey Ms. Manzi!



Okay so the end of the semester is approaching and it’s now time to get on the extra credit band wagon. The basic idea of the assignment is to contact someone that you would like to thank for their support as a mentor in your life and you are most certainly someone that came into mind! I’ll attached the assignment and if you’re cool with it that’s great! So here it goes.

It’s been just about 10 years since I had you for a teacher in the sixth grade and in many ways I remember it just like it was yesterday. I can appreciate looking back at those years now (especially now that I have just seen M go through the same process). It’s a time in your life where you are really defining who you are. When I look back at my friends at the time and the different places life has brought us all I cannot be thankful enough to be where I am today. Although I am still only in college I would like to think I have learned a little about life up until this point. What I have learned is that life is a team effort (we can’t do it on our own!) and it is through the choices we make, our experiences (good and bad), and most importantly the people in our lives that shape the people we are and the people we want to become. When you get ready to go to high school there are many paths you can take but generally there is a good path and a bad path.

I would like to think that I took the good path whether it has been graduating sixth in my class, being a junior in the Isenberg School at Umass, being involved on campus, or just being a good influence on my little sister. Where did this road start for me?...the sixth grade in your class.Up until the sixth grade I did not see myself as a smart person. I had stayed back in kindergarten and just wasn't the fastest student. I also believe at the time the sixth grade was the first year you actually received letter grades. What I learned about myself is that maybe I had to study a little bit longer than the naturally smart kids, but hey I could get the same As they were getting. I also realized that you could be the smartest person in the world but if you were lazy and didn't do the assignments you weren't going to get an A.

It was then that I told myself I would study a little harder and do all my assignments and do them well. I did well in your class and having you as a teacher really helped build my confidence because for the first time I remember having a teacher that believe in me even if I didn't believe in myself. I’m blessed to say that my experience with you as my teacher would not end there. I won the lottery and you became the technology teacher! This also meant I could sneak to the lab during the last 25 minutes of school to just hangout and talk about life. Like so many kids these days my family life was dysfunctional to say the least and to be able to have someone at school that I trusted and could confide is what made the difference for me. I am sure that it is extremely difficult to be a teacher in the South Hadley public school system with everything that is going on right now, but I hope South Hadley (and at this point the rest of the world) knows that it is teachers like you that are true assets to the town and to the students. I could go on and on for days, but in short I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for being my teacher, thank you for being my sister’s teacher, thank you for being my mentor, and thank you for being my friend.



Forever grateful,

Jesse