SAUGUS — In the last School Committee meeting, two former Saugus teachers received an honor that will see that their names are remembered for quite some time.
The School Committee voted, 3-1, to rename the Saugus Middle-High School auditorium after Jerome Mitchell and Nancy Lemoine.
Lemoine died at the age of 56 in 2013. She was a staple in the drama department, both teaching and eventually becoming drama director. In 2012, she received the Leonidas A. Nickole Award for Theater Educator of the Year by the New England Theater Conference.
Mitchell also died in 2013, at the age of 92. He spent more than 40 years in the Saugus school district as a part of the music department.
School Committee Vice Chair Ryan Fisher said the impact that Lemoine and Mitchell had on Saugus students was remarkable.
“I had former students and residents of different generations all pull me aside to tell me about the impact that Nancy Lemoine and Jerome Mitchell had on their lives, and how they don’t know who they might be today if not for them,” said Fisher. “Residents would cite them by name when speaking at our meetings on other topics, as in Nancy and Jerome aren’t here to speak, but this is important and we’re going to carry on and speak out.”
Committee Chairman Tom Whittredge said in the meeting that “he isn’t really for naming parts of the building after people,” but this situation is different.
“Not the new building, that’s just my personal belief, but this here I’m definitely in favor of,” he said. “First off, it was promised from a previous committee. They did all the work they were supposed to do to get ready and I really feel like an auditorium should be named.”
Committee member Arthur Grabowski was the lone vote in opposition. Instead of just honoring these two educators, Grabowski instead wanted to designate an area to honor more than just Mitchell and Lemoine, he said, so that everyone could be treated and honored equally.
“Where everyone, and every issue, and every person that has contributed to Saugus education (can) be recognized — they (can) all be recognized in the same area,” he said. “They all be recognized equally. They all be recognized without any political intervention. That these people be vetted and put in a place of honor and that the honor be the same size, shape and form for everyone so that there’s no discrepancy that one person gets something bigger or something smaller because of who they were friends with.”
After the motion passed, Whittredge suggested that the Lemoine/Mitchell Performing Arts Committee meet with architects to “get the proper decor for the signage on the side of the auditorium.”
