Junior Jayden Littlejohn and social studies teacher Cameron Poole have developed a strong connection over the course of Littlejohn’s high school career. After having Poole as a teacher and a track coach, Littlejohn was upset when he heard the news of Poole leaving.
“I’m personally going to miss him because he’s been one of my football coaches for 3 years and I was hoping that I could finish it out with him. Also, I take the class contemporary issues right now with him and it’s one of my favorite classes,” Littlejohn said.
Poole is going to work at Rockwood Summit High School where he will be an assistant principal, which is something that he has wanted to do for a few years.
“This year I have been trying to look at different jobs and when I got offered this one I knew I wanted to take it,” Poole said.
Although Littlejohn was upset to see him go, he’s happy he got the job he was looking for.
“When I heard Poole was leaving I was a little upset but it was bittersweet. He’s always talked about being a principal and now that it’s happening I’m happy for him,” Littlejohn said.
Along with teaching history, Poole is also a javelin and jumps coach for the girls track team. “The track team’s reactions were sad and just the relationships that we had built became so strong after coaching them,” Poole said.
English teacher Nora Biggs will also be leaving at the end of the school year. Biggs found out she was leaving in October of 2017 when her husband got a promotion and relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina for his job.
“I thought I would spend my entire teaching career [at Parkway Central] because I enjoy working with all of my colleagues,” Biggs said.
Although Biggs has to leave, she will always remember her time at Central.
“I have been forever grateful for my opportunity to work here. My husband got the job and has been there since January, but my daughters and I stayed back to finish the school year. We move on May 26,” Biggs said.
Biggs has worked at Parkway Central for 11 years. However, Biggs does not plan on teaching for a year when she gets to Charlotte.
“I am taking a year off from teaching to help unpack and get my kids adjusted. I plan to go back to teaching the following year and have already received my SC teaching certificate,” Biggs said.
Biggs states how one of her biggest accomplishments at Parkway Central has been seeing the work her students do and the people they grow to be. Along with leaving herself, Biggs’s students had a difficult reaction when they heard she would not be returning.
Another one of Parkway Central’s favorite science teachers, Thomas Kazanecki, will also not be returning after 33½ years of working here.
“I decided I was leaving on March 1, 2018 when kidney stone problems started. And I have been teaching science for 39 years, long enough,” Kazanecki said.
Kazanecki stated how he has had many great experiences from his years teaching at Central.
“Just getting a job in Parkway Schools was an accomplishment. But I also enjoyed viewing the annual solar eclipse years ago, from a contraption I learned about in workshop,” Kazanecki said.
Another teacher who will be missed is English and former yearbook teacher, Alyce Duffin, who retired from Parkway Central on May 7. Duffin left because of the urgent need for a foot surgery.
Duffin was a favorite teacher for many students including freshman Evan Weidner.
“I liked Ms, Duffin because she was open to everyone and she didn’t really care who you were, she was always going to treat you like everyone else,” Weidner said.
Poole, Biggs, Kazanecki, and Duffin have all had huge impacts at Parkway Central, from the years they have worked here. And all three of the teachers stated the thing they would miss the most about working here were the students and people they worked with.