LYNN — Longtime kindergarten teacher Maureen Gallant was surprised Friday morning when she came out of Aborn Elementary School to collect her students and instead found a school-wide party waiting for her.
Students, faculty and Gallant’s family surprised her with balloons, bubbles, homemade signs, flowers and a song to honor her retirement after 15 years teaching at the school.
“You’ve taught us so much for our long way round/with every subject and every view/we learned science, we learned math/how to read everything in our path/and it sure was fun to learn because of you,” students sang to the tune of “When I’m Gone” from the movie “Pitch Perfect.”
Gallant has been teaching in Lynn since 1985, starting at the Washington STEM School. She also taught at Shoemaker Elementary before transferring to Aborn, where her sons, Jack and Connor, attended when they were younger.
She said that she had no idea what her coworkers had planned for Friday morning, which was the final day of kindergarten for the school year.
“I feel sad that I’m going to miss so many good people that I’ve worked with over the years, and I really love teaching,” Gallant said. “But I’m very excited also to start something new.”
