The Principals of Retirement

By TONY STEIN

By Tony Stein

Correspondent

They’ve had lunch together just about every weekday for the past 16 years. Now, as they head into retirement after decades-long careers as Chesapeake educators, they’re looking forward to continuing their friendship, which has just one rule: They don’t talk politics.

“He’s more conservative and I’m more liberal,” explained Dan Graves. The “he” is colleague Howard Gillette.

Graves retired from the school system’s personnel division May 1. Gillette will retire July 1 from the personnel department. Graves has been with the system since 1973, Gillette since 1969. Both were teachers and principals before moving into personnel work, and both have doctorates in administration.

James Roberts, the school system’s assistant superintendent for personnel and support services, gives both men an A+ as a final grade. He said they showed exceptional skills and their dedication was evident in every task . “Any replacement,” Roberts said, “will have to fill big and well-worn shoes.”

Old Chesapeake hands know the name Gillette. Formally, the retiring educator is Howard T. Gillette III. Informally, he’s called Tom for his middle name of Thomas. His father was H. Thomas Gillette, a deputy clerk of Circuit Court for more than 32 years. The elder Gillette was something of a local legend for his knowledge of court procedures and his civic good deeds. He died in 1989.

“My daddy was Big Tom, and I was Little Tom,” Gillette, now 62, said . “I used to come to the office when I was little, and I met a lot of lawyers. They all wanted me to be a lawyer, but from early on, I wanted to teach. “

On the football field at Cradock High, Gillette was an offensive and defensive back. On the basketball court, he played forward, and in baseball season, he held down center field. He said Cradock coaches Mac Eure, Larry Weldon and Charlie Wade were role models who gave him valuable advice.

“They always expected me to do my best and give my best effort,” Gillette said.

He graduated from Cradock in 1963 and from Belmont Abbey College near Charlotte, N.C., in 1968. Then he started teaching seventh- grade history in Beaufort, N.C.

“I was a little intimidated at first,” he said, “but it was a country school in a town with country ways. The parents didn’t tolerate any nonsense, and the teacher ruled the roost.”

In 1969, he came back to home turf to teach at Southeastern Elementary. He moved into administration in 1976 when he became assistant principal at Deep Creek High. From 1979 to 1984, he was principal of Western Branch Junior High. Then came six years as principal of Oscar Smith High.

From 1990 to 1995, he worked in the personnel division. From 1995 to ’99, he was director of transportation. Then it was back to personnel to oversee hiring of high school teachers .

The office next to his belonged to Dan Graves, a Chicago native who had graduated from Norfolk’s Granby High in 1963 and considered a career in marketing.

“Education was not a major focus in my family,” Graves said. “My father left school after the fourth grade and my mother after the 10th. My father was a hotel bellhop who became a restaurant manager.”

Graves started his working career as an assistant manager at the old Smith & Welton department store at Wards Corner. But in 1966, with the Vietnam War heating up, he enlisted in the Navy. He served four years as a radioman on the ammunition ship Virgo, including three tours off Vietnam.

The Virgo was used as the Navy vessel on which Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon and James Cagney served in the film “Mister Roberts.”

After graduating from Old Dominion in 1973 with a degree in marketing education, he was offered a teaching job at Indian River High School.

“I figured I would teach for half a year and take the time to get my marketing resume together,” he said. “I’m still getting it together. I found that I liked the school environment, and I liked the kids.”

Over the years, he has served as coordinator of career education, principal at Park Elementary, principal at Truitt Junior High and principal of the Chesapeake Center for Science and Technology. Like Gillette, he’s done personnel work since 1990. In his last position he conducted internal investigations to help resolve employee issues.

With that stint at the tech center in his background, he said he would like to see more emphasis on trade education.

“Not every child is going to college,” he said. “State and federal education authorities seem to think so. But 80 percent of the work in our society does not require a four-year degree. It does require additional training, and that’s where we can help kids.”

Both he and Gillette would like to see less emphasis on standardized tests.

“Not everybody is at the same pace,” Graves said. “It’s not an auto assembly line.”

Gillette said the public emphasizes test scores too much. “Because of that,” he said, “there’s less emphasis on what’s good for the individual child.”

They also agreed that discipline problems are the biggest challenge for teachers in today’s school climate.

“There are a lot more problems,” Gillette said. “They’re a sign of the times. The main problem used to be chewing gum in the classroom. Now they bring weapons to school.”

Both men talked about the how the changes affect dealing with the students who came through Chesapeake’s school doors. In today’s faster-paced, high-tech world, they agreed, students have a shorter attention span.

And, in contrast to Gillette’s comment that teachers ruled the roost in that Beaufort, N.C., school, Graves noted that “teachers cannot do or say the things they used to be able to do. Like student dress codes. Teachers have to be a little more reserved about the issues they bring to a student’s attention.”

In retirement, Graves, who lives in Great Bridge, plans to travel with his wife, Judy, a retired school office worker.

Gillette, a Western Branch resident, will be traveling with his wife, Toni, a retired elementary schoolteacher. Yard work and woodwork are on his agenda as well.

Since both look forward to traveling, they say it’s likely the two couples sometimes will be companions on the roads.

Looking back on their careers, neither man has a misty-eyed view of the challenges of teaching.

“It’s hard work,” Gillette said. “I advise them to take a hard look within themselves and decide if that’s what they really want to do.”

Graves nodded agreement but said one of the rewards was when former students came back and told a teacher he or she had made a difference.

“That,” Graves said, “is where it all comes together.”

Tony Stein, steinstuff@aol.com

(c) 2007 Virginian – Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.