Quinsigamond Elementary School teacher retires after 38 years

WORCESTER – Kathy Kiritsy is wrapping up 38 years at Quinsigamond Elementary School. After nearly four decades of teaching, some might be inclined to think they had seen it all.

Kiritsy rejects this school of thought, enthusiastically embracing new ideas and reveling in the fact that there is only one constant in teaching. Change.

“I don’t think I’ve ever stopped learning,” she said, saying that she learns new things all the time from not only her peers but students. “If you’re the type who stops learning, then this job is not for you.”

Kiritsy started at Quinsigamond teaching kindergarten, doing so for 10 years before moving to first grade – until two years ago. That’s when she became a reading interventionist, a specialist who works with small groups of students between first and third grade, providing extra help to bring their reading up to grade level. Such positions have been increasingly necessary after schools returned to in-person classes and many students were found to have fallen behind on their reading.

Teaching reading has always been special to Kiritsy.

“The aha moment is the best,” she said. “To watch the light go on in a child’s eyes when they know they finally got it, after struggling and struggling then one day they can read the whole page.”

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‘Kids have always wanted to learn’

Despite changes in educational programs or curriculum, the core goal of teaching remains the same, said Kiritsy.

“Your job is to make that child comfortable and happy, giving them security, making them feel wanted, loved and respected enough to be heard,” she said. “That has never changed. Whether it was my first day or my last, that was my job.”

While new tools and technology can improve how one approaches education, the most important tools in a teacher’s arsenal is flexibility.

“Always have to be ready for a bend in the road,” said Kiritsy. “You have to know that sometimes you have to veer off a bit. That regimented lesson plan that you think you were going to follow may have to take a back seat depending on how that child is feeling.”

She has watched numerous first and second year teachers learn this lesson, but it can just as easily be applied to her long-time peers.

“If you’re the type of teacher who goes in thinking you know it all, then you are stagnating,” she said.

Remote learning

Even as they learn from her and their own experience, Kiritsy knows that she can learn from these new teachers in turn.

“The newer teachers bring a whole new level of knowledge and have an insight that I may not have had 38 years ago,” she said. Technology – especially during the pandemic – comes to mind. “I was not a computer-raised teacher. This was a whole new world and I have way more computer skills now,” she said, describing the adjustment to remote classes and teaching over Zoom.

Upon returning to in-person teaching from COVID, Kiritsy knows that’s what she prefers, but in keeping with her approach to life and teaching, values the learning experience it provided.

“You would read a story or give a test while kids are sitting in their bed, on the couch or even still in their pajamas,” she said. “It gave an insight into their home life and theirs into mine.”

‘Everyone deserves to learn’

“When I started at Quinsig it was a primarily Polish neighborhood,” recalled Kiritsy.

Many students came in not speaking English and had to pick it up in class as they went. The issue continues to this day, but with even more languages. As someone who only speaks English, it would be easy to pass it off to someone else, she said, but that would go against the other core part of her philosophy – a teacher should never give up because everyone deserves a chance to learn.

“These students need a fair shake,” she said. “Someone with patience who understands that this is a second language for them. It’s tough when you only speak one language and got a classroom of inner-city children whose families may not have food last night and they got to sit down and listen to me in a language they don’t know.”

While helping a student overcome a language barrier is a rewarding experience, when asked about what she is most proud of during her career, Kiritsy points to a project addressing an issue kids face at home, rather than school – food insecurity.

“Students can’t learn if they’re hungry,” she said.

She recalled when, before COVID-19, a sixth-grader coming up to her at the end of the day on a Friday, when most students are enthusiastically leaving school, saying he didn’t want to go home. His reason? School meant breakfast and lunch.

“It hit me hard,” said Kiritsy, who approached the principal and asked to start a food pantry for students to take food home on Fridays. The program was success and ran for about four to five years.

“Then COVID hit and we couldn’t go into the building,” to collect it, she said. “We had a full pantry, $3,000 to $4,000 worth of food and we had to throw it out. The mice feasted.”

A new incarnation resumed after COVID at the Quinsigamond Community Center, but no longer provides the direct line to students as the original. To this day, the program remains one of Kiritsy’s proudest accomplishments and greatest regrets.