Joann Bair has been professionally dedicated to teaching music for 39 1/2 years. She has been teaching in Peters Township schools since 2000, spending the majority of her teaching tenure at McMurray Elementary as a band director, orchestra director, and general music teacher.  Joann is also an active member of John McMillan Presbyterian Church, donating her time and musical talent as a clarinetist, a choir member, and a performing member of the handbell ensemble.

Everyone at McMurray Elementary will miss the sound of her clarinet ringing through the music hallway, and we will miss the handmade Christmas chocolates that she shared each holiday season with all staff members in the building.  Administrators will remember her not only for her extreme attention to detail and passion to teach her curriculum, but also for her commitment to performing all extra duties with the same dedication and flair that she applied to teaching music in her classroom.

Students will remember her unwavering adherence to the rules, whether they were the musical rules governing scales and arpeggios, or the everyday classroom rules of order.  Her teaching legacy at McMurray Elementary will live on for years to come through the mural in the music hallway that she designed and painted.

In retirement, she is looking forward to spending time in her gardens, traveling the country with her husband, Dennis, and spending time with her son, Trevin, and daughter, Rhiannon.  Congratulations, Joann, on a successful career, and we hope you enjoy your life ahead and your new-found freedom!

Nancy Hobbs’ career was filled with a love for her students and fellow teachers.   Nancy has spent thirty years in education.  Twenty-one of those years were in the Peters Township School District as an assistant principal for two years and a teacher for nineteen years.    Nancy has been a true friend, a cheerful motivator, and a quintessential role model of exemplary teaching for all of us.   Her love of teaching is truly contagious and inspiring.      

Nancy looks forward to a retirement filled with country music, lots of reading, and fun with her family and friends.  She and her husband, Phillip, plan to move to Nashville where they will be closer to their daughters Hannah, Rachel, Lauren, and son-in-law Neal.   

Nancy will be sorely missed and remembered for the impact she has made on the staff and students in Peters Township.  Nancy, you can now truthfully say it is all downhill from here! 

“The best teacher lodges an intent not in the mind but in the heart” – Anne Michaels 

Nancy has been a teacher for 37 years, 23 of those being with the Peters Township School District. She has been a loyal employee and colleague. She is well respected in the community and by her students and families. 

Retirement will bring lots of RV road trips with her loving husband, Randy. She will dedicate her time to visiting with her two children, Rachel and Adam. She will enjoy relaxing pool side and enjoying some much needed “me” time. Retirement will also have her eagerly awaiting grandchildren!

Thank you, Nancy for your years of service and for being a “Mama Bear” to all of us.

I was asked to write a tribute, but I’ve never done one before so I’m not sure where to start….

Megan Wysocki and a horse walk into a bar. The bartender asks, “Why the long face?” and Megan teaches the horse how to multiply decimals to give the barkeep a bigger tip since he was concerned enough to ask.

But all lame jokes aside, when I think of the consummate teacher, I think of Megan Wysocki. She has been teaching for 40 years; the last 24 of which she has been a fifth-grade teacher at McMurray Elementary School. Megan always does the best possible job. She chooses to put in significantly more than the required hours on a regular basis. She is continuously implementing new things to help the kids. Just this year, she added a monthly math contest for fifth graders. Throughout her career, she has pursued excellence; gleaning ideas from reading Educational Leadership and convening with esteemed local minds in education such as our retired colleagues Mary Ann Battaglia and Toni Sulkowski.

In addition to her incredible work ethic, Megan’s mantra about kindness is an example for us all. Her belief that it’s important to “be kind at all times” is one she lives by. When faced with difficult circumstances and it’s unclear what would be the right thing to do, Megan chooses the kindest thing. As so many of us at McMurray know, Megan makes sure to make others feel valued. She sends notes, stops by for a chat, or publicly tells others about the strength of a colleague. Just this, her final year, Megan was assigned to a new teaching partner, Mallory Stump, and a new long-term sub, Kate Gannon, who is the special educator working with the inclusion kids in her room. You can hear Megan singing the praises of these young, talented educators on a regular basis, in front of colleagues and administrators alike. I believe Megan’s influence is still making an impact.

For a time in my first year working with Megan, I was under the impression that she was trying to be the best teacher and wanted to outdo her peers. As time passed, I realized that wasn’t at all the case. Yes, she was constantly trying to improve, but she was happy to pass along the cause of her successes to others to help us all to improve. She wanted us all to be great together! And that attitude has remained during all of the more than two decades of us working together. I learned so much from Megan when I was a young learning support teacher who had inclusion kids in her classroom, and I still learn from her today. And so many of her ideas I have now passed along to other educators coming up behind me.

Megan Wysocki will be sorely missed by so many of us when she retires. But her examples of putting forth her best for the kids and being kind to everyone will be her legacy that will not be forgotten. We will miss you, Megan!