Karen Sticht: Grateful to former educators and coaches at Inter-Lakes

To The Daily Sun,

There are some people who have recently disappeared from the Inter-Lakes schools that need to be thanked for giving amazing educational opportunities to students.

When the class of 1997 entered eighth grade science on the first day of school, they were greeted by a new teacher and his excellent classroom assistant. Steve Roberts came from England with an accent and the mindset that eighth graders and science belonged together as long as "hands on" was the method of teaching. And it had to be fun. His assistant, Debbie Ulm, had a way of interpreting his wacky British sense of humor and helping all of the kids succeed. The students learned chemistry by making a proper cup of tea, physics by creating and flying hot air balloons and exploding 2-liter bottle rockets. They grew plants in the greenhouse and SO much more. Thanks, Steve and Debbie.

Teaching students to play musical instruments takes an enormous amount of patience and love. The sounds coming from a clarinet or saxophone in the mouths of beginners are pretty indescribable. Mona Hoefs worked magic for ILES musicians, which was evidenced through many concerts of growth and musicianship from fifth grade through high school. Mrs. Hoefs was also computer savvy and brought "smart music" into the schools to aide in helping the young musicians learn. Some of her students continue to play and enjoy community bands even today as adults. Thanks, Mona.

The last story is personal. I watched my daughter, Cassi, play IL volleyball from grades 7-12, and then for the University of Southern Maine. After college she became an excellent coach. Although normally calm in nature, on the first day of school a year ago, there was a disagreement about her first grader's busing arrangements. Long story short, the school lost her paperwork, eventually looked at their website to see that the stop was designated, and apologized both verbally and in writing for about five other discrepancies, none of which was her fault. Soon after the initial incident, however, Superintendent Mary Moriarty called, and without even asking what had transpired during the morning, immediately fired Cassi as the junior varsity volleyball coach. Despite glowing recommendations from referees, opposing coaches, athletes, the time-keeper, parents, grandparents, and having no athletic director complaints, more than seven years at the school meant nothing. During her tenure, a 10-team JV tournament was won, and with sometimes up to 29 girls on a team, she meticulously organized substitutions and positions so all had some playing time during nearly every match. Her athletes learned the game, had fun on team selfie scavenger hunts, and many went on to be successful state championship varsity players. Thanks, Cassi.

So, my friends and daughter, you were great and are missed. I'm sad that future students and athletes won't get to learn from you, especially since qualified, enthusiastic replacements have been difficult to find. Knowing the back story facts, my opinion — you were unfairly "canceled" by M. Moriarty, T. Temporino, and the school board. Shame on them.

Karen Sticht

Meredith