Retiring Lynn educator reflects on life in schools

LYNN – Retiring Principal Bernadette Stamm has only one regret when she looks back on her 43-year education career: She wishes she could have given her students more opportunities to play.?They don?t have time to release the energy inside them,” she said.Stamm?s six years as Drewicz School principal end on Monday. She plans to spend more time with her husband, Barry, and her son, Brendan, and she would like to work with new teachers entering urban schools like Drewicz.Stamm is finishing her career at the helm of a school but she spent most of her time in local public schools pursuing the love of her life – teaching first grade students.?It?s the only grade you can see the growth in the child,” she said. “They come in non-readers and come out readers.”Stamm, her two sisters and their brother, David, all pursued teaching careers and Stamm credits her aunt, Dorothy, for influencing their decisions.?She was a tremendous mentor. My mother had an eighth grade education and my father had a 10th grade education. Education was very important in our house. College was always the goal,” she said.She taught at the former Burrill School on Tower Hill and passed up an offer to teach fifth grade in favor of teaching first-graders.?I fell in love with the children,” she said.Stamm said the words painted on Drewicz? front hallway wall summarize the West Lynn school?s mission and her definition of a good teacher: “To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world.”Stamm taught first grade for most of her career at Callahan School and served as acting principal there in 2006. The experience prompted her to act on a delayed decision to take advantage of her principalship certification and apply for a job leading a school.Drewicz is a school where Stamm and the teachers she works with have taught students how to learn in the classroom and stay safe in their neighborhoods. Pictures of sex offenders living near the school are plastered on the window next to the school?s main entrance.?I try to see children have every opportunity I have. West Lynn has a history of different ethnicities. Students may speak different languages, but they have the same needs,” she said.Demands placed on students have greatly increased since she began teaching.?Kids entering first grade are expected to be reading. In 1970, kids came in at every level imaginable,” she said.She said testing can benefit students if it helps teachers adjust their methods and curriculums to help students understand lessons.?Today, I can test children throughout the year to determine their needs: It gives me more control over how I teach,” she said.Stamm looks forward to sleeping as long as she likes instead of waking up on cold winter mornings to prepare Drewicz for another school day. Her public school career is ending, but Stamm looks forward to meeting the children of students she taught during her career.?It?s such a rewarding career. You know a family – they?ve shared their children with you – you?ve made a change in someone?s life,” she said.