To the Editor:

In the fall of 1984, I had the good fortune to be assigned Bill Cirullo as my fourth grade teacher. There are many things I remember about that year — the math stumpers he would project on the black board in the morning, N.J. Travel (an interdisciplinary, project-based social studies unit he created), playing kickball when no other class was outside because at heart he was a coach and understood that for kids to learn, kids need to run. I’ve never forgotten his lesson to me on the perils of perfectionism, the day he called me to his desk, crumpled up an essay I’d written, then opened up the paper and with it full of wrinkles, said “It’s just as good now.” Or how he ignited a passion for learning in us all through his passion for teaching.

We were the last class he taught. The following year he was made principal. He went on to transform Riverside School into the top ranked elementary school in the state. But he did so much more than that. He inspired hundreds of children and families, teachers and staff to take part in the best of what public education can offer. Thirty years later, I moved back to the neighborhood where I grew up. This fall, my son started kindergarten at my old elementary school and he got to meet Bill. And while my son got to know his classroom, I got the chance to talk to Bill again after a lifetime. We talked about my kids and his grandkids. We talked about how he had pushed back when state policies didn’t advance learning. And then I asked him how he came up with N.J. Travel, one of those lessons I’ve never forgotten. He said, “I read the book they wanted me to teach and said to myself ‘This is going to bore them to tears.’ So I made notes on all the content I had to teach and then reimagined the whole unit. For a lesson to matter, it needs 3 things. Context. Meaning. Emotion.”

I am grateful for that last talk. It seems everything Bill touched when it came to teaching mattered. He made you feel like you were the only person in the room. There is so much I will cherish about Bill; the reaches of his legacy live on in me as that nine-year-old girl and now as a parent of three. He was one of the greats. Rest in peace, Mr. Cirullo. We will miss you.

Katharine Powell Roman

Harrison Street