Seifert column: Bill Drummond, Andover's own 'Mr. Chips,' retiring

Education

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

May 28, 2009

By Ken Seifert

One of my favorite movies is "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" starring Robert Donat. The setting is a boarding school in England. For half a century, Mr. Chips was an educator in one school. He loved his students. He loved his school. As each new class enrolled, he knew the future they would face and did his very best to prepare them for such uncertainty. He also knew what they were thinking and how they felt.

Officially, when the school bell rings to end the 2008-09 school year, Andover High will say goodbye to our Mr. Chips, Mr. Bill Drummond. He is also another character from literature, Uncas, Last of the Mohicans. He is the sole remaining teacher who was in the Andover Public Schools when I arrived in 1969.

Can you imagine the student changes he has witnessed from 1969 to 2009? In all of those years he has always been Mr. Drummond.

He could always tell you the dances of the day, what music and movies the students preferred, what clothes were in, and how well all of the athletic teams were doing. He was active in clubs, and student social causes. In late autumn, he would fight the elements in Al Ratelle's tree bucket and relay plays to Mr. Collins during Friday night football games. So did Mr. Hixon and Paul Hopkins. He announced athletic events.

In the classroom, his students were attentive. On rare occasions when some students had fallen asleep with their eyes open, he would walk to the back of the room and hurl the eraser at the blackboard. My daughter Kim, who was fortunate to have him as a teacher, said the students loved his approach. When the students were progressing well, he would have special Fridays. This was a time to discuss a variety of topics sometimes related to math. I enjoyed his invitation to discuss probability and my experience living in Las Vegas.

He is one of the foremost authorities on birds. He can recognize every bird in the Western Hemisphere. When we arrived in New England, my wife, Norma, adopted the hobby of bird watching. On one occasion she spent almost two days plowing through bird books to identify a bird she has seen. Mr. Drummond told Kim to have her give him four characteristics. The next day, between classes, Kim gave him the scrap paper with that information and in two seconds he identified the bird as an indigo bunting. He saved Norma hours of further research.

I suppose what I admire about him is that he is one of the most low-profile overachievers I have seen. If something needs to be done, he does it and moves on to the next order of business. In the parade of life, you will not see him at the head of the line waving, but rather marching alongside the band seeing that they step proudly and assisting as the need arises.

Mr. Drummond, how honored I was to work with you. I thank you for being yourself and the role model you provided. You're better than Robert Donat. He acted the part, you lived it.

Ken Seifert is a 40-year town resident and former Andover superintendent of schools who writes about education and raising children.