From Clear Channel To The Classroom: Fort Lee’s Newest Kindergarten Teacher

Fort Lee School No. 1 teacher Karen Simone, who was approved by the Fort Lee Board of Education at the end of August as the school’s fifth Kindergarten teacher, may be new to her classroom, but she’s definitely not new to the school district.

In fact, she’s a product of the Fort Lee School system, having attended School No. 4, Fort Lee Middle School and Fort Lee High School, from which she graduated in 2000.

Recently married and now living in Palisades Park, Simone was born in Brooklyn and also lived briefly in North Bergen, but she said she considers Fort Lee home.

Simone has also worked in the school district for the past couple of years, having substituted for extended periods for teachers on maternity or medical leave after making the transition from a brief career in radio she embarked on right out of college. She graduated from Caldwell College in 2004 with a BA in English and a minor in Communications and worked in the radio industry for three years before returning to school in 2007, completing her teaching degree in 2008 at Saint Peters College and receiving her teaching license in 2009.

“I was a risk-taker because when you’re a substitute teacher, you don’t get called every day,” Simone said of making the transition from the relatively low pay, long hours and limited career advancement opportunities of working in radio to a career in teaching.

She said part of that risk involved deciding to become a substitute teacher instead of a teacher’s aide because she wanted school staff, principals and administrators to “deem me as a teacher.”

“I felt like being a teacher’s aide, they wouldn’t see me like that,” Simone said. “So I took a risk from 2009 to 2011 to put myself out there and just show [them] what I could do.”

Simone said she was observed by several of the district’s elementary school principals during her substitute teaching gigs, including School No. 1 principal Kristine Cecere, who ultimately interviewed her for the fifth Kindergarten teacher’s position.

“Technically this is my first year as a teacher,” Simone said. “Have I done this before? Yes. But to be a full-time teacher, this is my classroom. I can finally say that this is my classroom. It feels great. I feel excited.  As a maternity leave replacement, I always felt bad for the students because when the original teacher left, it’s a transition that you need for make for the kids, but also for the parents because they need to feel comfortable with you. For me to start from scratch in September and to be with the kids all the way through June is a nice thing to have.”

Simone sat down with Patch this week—just a few weeks into her first full year as a full-time teacher—in her new classroom at School No. 1 that had to be set up quickly after the August 29 BOE meeting at which she was officially hired.

Here’s how the rest of Patch’s interview with Simone went:

Who or what was it that inspired you to become an educator?

The children. I love being around children, and just to see them grow. For example, I was covering [at School No. 3 for about six months]. When I got there it was November, and the kids … knew some of their letters, but they couldn’t put sentences together. By the end of Kindergarten or close to the end [their original teacher returned close to the end of the school year], the students were able to write sentences. They were able to identify punctuation and grammar. They were able to write things by heart. I was so thrilled to see that happen and to see their growth. And when I left, the parents said, ‘Oh, Ms. Simone, we’re going to miss you. Thank you so much for teaching my child. I see so much improvement in them.’ And that makes you feel good inside. When you’re working in the business world, your bosses don’t give you a pat on the back and say, ‘You did a good job today.’ But when you’re working in the teaching world, the kids will give you a pat on the back. I even have kids right now bringing me flowers or bringing me chocolates. It’s things like that that make you feel happy and that the work you’re doing is something worthy.

Simone also said she’ll always remember Miss Barlow, her third grade teacher at School No. 4, who she said was only with the district for a short period of time, but who had a profound influence because “she wasn’t just a teacher; she was almost like my mom.”

If I can influence a child and they can go back and say, ‘I had Ms. Simone as my teacher, and I loved her. She taught me so well, and she was so caring,’ if I can instill that in a child, that’s what I want.

You’re not only a teacher. You’re like a mommy to these kids. You’re someone they can go to talk to. You play different roles in the classroom.

What’s your educational philosophy or how do you approach education?

As a teacher, you always want your students to succeed, and any which way that you can go about doing that is the way that you should do it. I know the old of way of teaching: teachers were set in one way. As a teacher, you should be able to grow, and every year you learn something new. Teachers can always use improvement. So that’s why we go back to school to find different strategies to help children learn because children learn in many different ways. As a teacher, you should be able to go about finding those ways to help the child succeed because your end result is for the child to be able to go out in that world and be able to show what they’ve learned.

What is something that most people don’t know about you or would be surprised to learn?

I love to sing, and I love to dance. I’m an organist at St. Nicholas Church in Palisades Park. I play for the Italian Mass. I’m a regular organist. I sing occasionally in church with my father. I’d say my [musical skills] come from my dad. My dad was an opera singer—not a famous opera singer, but he was an opera singer. And he instilled that in me. I feel like I followed in his footsteps with music. In church we do perform together. I’m the organ player, and he sings. And when he’s not around, I sing.

Editor’s Note: Simone plays the organ every Sunday at 11 a.m. Mass at St. Nicholas Church in Palisades Park.

Name three people—living or dead—you would invite to dinner

Elvis Presley is definitely one. Michael Jackson; I love Michael Jackson’s music. Marylyn Monroe. I would even pick JFK if I could pick four.

What else would you like people to know about you?

I’m fluent in Italian … I can understand a little bit of Spanish. When I was in Fort Lee High School, I was part of the Italian club, and I was part of the orchestra.

Principal Cecere said she’s “very excited” to have Simone working at Fort Lee School No. 1.

“She has worked in the district in many, many positions,” Cecere told Patch the night the school board approved Simone. “I worked with her very closely when I was instructional supervisor at School 4. She’s an outstanding asset to Fort Lee—outstanding.”