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Three Mason CLC Colleagues Set to Retire

Image of Carletta Ray
  • Mason CLC

by Ralph N. Paulk, APS Storyteller

(The photo above is Carletta Ray, third-grade Mason CLC teacher with 16 years at Mason and 34 years with Akron Public Schools.)

It has been 28 years since Ann Marie Rushanan began an unlikely journey at Mason CLC. Admittedly, she didn’t foresee spending nearly three decades at one Akron Public Schools campus.

Yet, the allure of the Mason community has been hard to resist. More importantly, the bond with other teachers has been just as impactful in influencing her desire to remain at a school that has significantly shaped her life.

“I remembered craving and desiring my own classroom when I started,” said Rushanan, who teaches second grade. “Now, 28 years later, I'm leaving. I can't believe that time has come.”

The time, too, has come for two of her colleagues, Carletta Ray and Felicia Moga – both of whom will retire along with Rushanan at the end of this school year. While there are no regrets or second thoughts, neither is reveling in the reality of their imminent departure.

“It is definitely bittersweet,” said Moga, her voice quivering. “I feel like all of us go through moments when we're excited about the future; but we're also going through all the memories, and we certainly have had some great memories.

“I have felt like we've been enriched by the people we've been around; and that includes our students, our community and our fellow teachers. We've definitely learned a lot and have grown a lot.”

Mason principal Renee Kochis expects there will be some growing pains when three highly respected teachers depart. Predictably, students and parents must adjust to a significant change among the staff.

“These are three phenomenal teachers who will sorely be missed next year,” Kochis said. “They have impacted the lives of thousands of students over the years.”

Moga, who has spent 26 years in the classroom, teaches fourth-graders; and she’s done it alongside her best friend, Letizia Robinson. They estimate they have spent more time together than they have with their families.

Ray, a third-grade teacher, has spent the past 16 years of a 34-year career at Mason. Like her colleagues, she has mixed emotions about her farewell.  

“I would just like to say that I'm just so grateful for the opportunity that Akron Public Schools has given me to grow professionally through the years,” Ray said. “It's been 34 long years, but it's been 34 great years.

“I'm not finished because my plan is to continue to stay in the loop with education. I still have plans to go to some (academic) conferences in the summertime. I would like to extend my service to the college level, and the plan is to maybe work more with student teachers."

Ray has helped develop more than 10 student teachers at Mason; and she has made efforts to continue sharing her knowledge and expertise with aspiring teachers, one of whom she hopes might ultimately end up in a Mason classroom.

“I just love to pour into aspiring teachers, like what was poured into me,” Ray said. “I had a great cooperating teacher and a great supervisor when I was in my last year of college. If I can get on a recruiting team somewhere, I would talk up education and how we need good people.”

Even though they are excited about what lies ahead, all three teachers readily concede their work isn’t done.

“We've enjoyed what we have done too much to really just totally let it go,” said Moga, who spent six years as a home instructor before taking on a special education class full time.

In essence, these retiring teachers have created bonds greater than most families. Rushanan conceded it is one reason why it’ll be hard to part from her colleagues. So, they have committed to keeping in touch no matter how different the road they travel in retirement.

“We've lost our parents together,” Rushanan said. “We've kind of meshed our home lives, too -- like we became friends, not only coworkers – that has helped us stay together. We're grateful for that. There is a Mason retirement group that meets together, I think, once a month. We might become part of that.”

Their lives, too, have been woven together in a tapestry of academic excellence. Their students are achieving and thriving within a community that has influential partners – including The Well and Vincent House – and legacy parents, many of whom themselves sat inside the classrooms of both Moga and Rushanan.

When asked how she’ll replace three veteran teachers, Kochis said pointedly, “I have no idea how we're going to replace them. They are not replaceable.”

They're irreplaceable, in part, because all three serve on Mason’s building leadership team in some capacity. Also, they contribute to decisions and planning that impacts the school. In addition, they deliver professional development to other teachers, according to Kochis.

“They have a high level of influence on other staffers – and our community,” Kochis said. “For the families who remained in this neighborhood, many of them know who our teachers are.”

Kochis said Mason doesn’t have a high turnover rate, which has resulted in an experienced staff with which the parents and students are familiar. “Most of our teachers have been here for a long time,” Kochis said. “When they share something that they’re doing, it has a trickle-down effect to the rest of the staff,” Kochis said. “Also, other people are learning from them and doing better because of them.”

Rushanan decided more than a year ago to retire. It is a move, however, that will break up an 11-year partnership with teacher Angie Brown.

“We are so similar and how, you know, we work; and we can anticipate each other's needs -- and I told her, you know, I'll be back,” said Rushanan, who plans to travel to Europe. ”I'm not leaving her high and dry. So that gives something to look forward to and not just walking away and being sad.

“I'm not going to teach anymore; but my attitude is, hey, who wants me to come and read some books. They always need tutors during that day; and, hopefully, I can recruit other people to come with me.

‘I am an official bookaholic,” Rushanan said with unabashed pride. “I admit it very readily, and I want to pass that passion onto my students. They know if there is a book -- you know, if I don't have it -- then I will Amazon order it and find it for them and get them excited about learning. It is second grade, and that is the time when they transition and get that passion.”

Moga and Ray have generated their students’ passion as well, particularly in math and arts. But their students have inspired them, too.

“There are times when we all need encouragement; and we encourage each other, and that is what has gotten us through,” Moga said. “Our kids get attached to teachers, and teachers get attached to kids.

“We look forward to having our kids just enjoy being here and enjoy learning. That is what we thrive on, like seeing those 'aha' moments, seeing kids who say, ‘I learned something; and I'm going home happy. I enjoy being here.’ ”

It has been just as emotionally taxing for the students as it has been for their teachers. They aren’t shy to express a sense of sadness that Mason’s beloved teachers are moving on to the next stage of their lives.

“I got a little choked up when a student said she’ll miss me,” Ray said as she resisted shedding tears. “The fourth- and fifth-graders, once they heard, it was just hugs every morning. I would definitely teach them how to use the email system so I can keep in touch. It's going to be tough, I feel, on both ends.

“I feel like the moment you communicate to a parent that you're a caring professional, that you're there to support and help their child, you're going to have every parent on board,” Ray said. “I feel that is the secret to strengthening that relationship.

“We do a lot of great things here at Mason, including creating relationships with our students and families,” said Ray, who plans to spend part of retirement traveling Africa and Europe. “Even though we're retiring, that relationship building is going to continue.”

All three teachers are quick to remind each other that they still have five months on the job.

Moga has options in retirement, which includes volunteering with a ministry that works with Native Americans through an outreach program to share their stories of hope.

“My best friend and I are one of the cook teams; and we get to administer two of the Native Americans who are doing all the work going to the reservations, and it is hard work,” said Moga, a native of Romania.
”I want to go back and visit my roots and where I was born and maybe take my kids.”

All three teachers are planning to travel overseas. However, they joyfully concede their hearts will always yearn for that small, tight-knit school at 700 E. Exchange St.

*****

Kochis on Ann Marie Rushanan: “(Rushanan) has books everywhere in her classroom, and she is really passionate about literacy and about students spending time with books, whether they can read or not, you know. That's how you're gonna learn it, by spending time diving into books.”

Kochis on Carletta Ray: “When I'm in Mrs. Ray’s classroom doing an observation or a walk-through, there have been many times over the years when I forget that is why I'm in there,” Kochis said. “I get engaged and involved in her lessons. She uses songs, rhymes and visual things to make you remember what she is teaching; and she gets very expressive in her learning and just draws you in.”

Kochis on Felicia Moga: “Mrs. Moga consistently had some of the highest elementary math scores in the district,” Kochis said. “A high percentage of her students often leave her grade for the year having grown like one to two years in their math skills. She has a real knack for drilling into individual student needs and then teaching them according to what that particular student needs help with. So she is just honing in on individual student needs and then tailoring her teaching to that for those students.”

Felicia Moga, fourth grade, 26 years at Mason CLC

Ann Marie Rushanan, second grade, 28 years at Mason CLC, high school: Bedford High School, college: University of Akron-BS, Kent State University-MA

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