Bradford’s ‘Ms. V’ celebrates 50 years in education
‘Mrs. V’ celebrates 50 years in education
By Logan Watson
Once they start closing in on 30 years, some teachers will fudge the numbers a little bit when you ask them how long they’ve been in education.
Virginia Russell is not quite as bashful about it.
Last week, ‘Ms. V’ celebrated 50 years as a teacher for the Bradford Special School District.
“I started in the fall of 1974. I went to school here, then went to Bethel for four years and then came right back,” she said. “I’ve been here ever since.”
Ms. V said that she knew she had wanted to be a teacher since she was in the 6th Grade.
“I would beg my teacher to send home papers that I could grade,” she laughed. “And she would! She would let me bring them and grade them!”
Russell said she never tried that tactic with her own students, though.
“Somehow, none of my students wanted to do that as badly as I did,” she said.
Ms. V has spent the majority of her career as an English teacher, teaching multiple grade levels and trying to pass along her love of language and literature.
“I love to try to get a kid to read,” she said. “To do that, it almost feels like a miracle when they finally get it.
“For the last few years, I’ve been helping with the Elementary School, too,” she said. “I teach RTI now for 6th, 7th and 8th grade, and I also teach Small Group Reading in 2nd, 3rd and 5th grade.”
A lot can happen in 50 years, though. Like English teachers stepping into the science lab.
“I taught Physical Science back when you could teach something outside your area,” Russell said. “I’ve taught P.E., Health… I taught Health in the cafeteria when the school burned. That’s when we had the old high school on the hill. That’s where I started teaching. When it burned, we just went everywhere trying to find a place for a class. I taught English in the shop. Every time a power saw came on, I’d have to hush. I’ve done a lot.”
The year of the fire was the first and last year that Ms. V taught French. It’s a hard language to learn. It’s even harder when you don’t have any textbooks.
Having taught for so long, Ms. V has taught plenty of children of former students. She’s taught grandchildren of former students and currently works with close to 20 of her former students, and in honor of her milestone, students and teachers showered her with hugs, cards and a basket full of Dr. Peppers on Friday.
You’ll notice that nowhere in our interview did Ms. V say she was retiring.
“Next year, I’m actually going part-time,” Ms. V said. “I tried twice to retire. The first time, I came back in September. The next time, they got me back before the summer was even over. When I go the third time, that’ll be it for me, but I’m going to see how it is. Next year I don’t start until 11, so I can sleep in and then teach those little ones.”
“I don’t know that I can ever put it down,” she added. “I just don’t know that I can leave them. I have lots of grandkids and I see them all the time, but it’s not the same somehow. I know mine are loved and taken care of. They have every advantage that the world could give them, but I see this other bunch, and they don’t have an advantage. I want to be their advantage.”
Ms. V said that even though she will be getting plenty of hugs at BES, she’s going to miss the connections that she was able to make with her older students.
“I’ll miss those hugs,” she said. “I try to find the invisible ones that I know nobody else is paying attention to.”
If you manage to do something for 50 years, you’re doing it because you love it, and it’s the students that have kept Ms. V coming back year after year.
“I’m the grandma,” she said. “Until I can see that these kids don’t need the grandma anymore and the teachers don’t need their momma up here to help them. They’re all so capable of doing what they do, but every once in a while, you need somebody to say to you, ‘You’re doing a great job. Today was just a bad day. Tomorrow will be better, and if there’s anything I can do to help you, I will.’ Sometimes you just have to spread the love, and for some reason, God made me a person who just loves kids. And other people. Everybody in this school.”
“A lot of people have to go to work, but I get to go to work and I get to be with these kids and teachers that I love and I feel like love me,” Ms. V said. “Why would you want to quit?”
Ms. V was my English teacher in the 80’s. She was and is loved by all that have had the pleasure of being her student. Congratulations Ms. V on 50 years. I’m happy to say I was your student.