Victoria Times Colonist: 2008 June 28
Jack Knox
Last day of school for Victoria students today. Last day of class for Bob Warren, too. After 32 years teaching at George Jay Elementary, he's pulling the plug.
You might recall Warren from earlier columns on the annual Read For The Top test-your-knowledge-of-Canadian-kid-lit tournament that he founded 25 years ago.
It was a mock Read For The Top match that greeted Warren when he wandered into the George Jay gym after school this week. Two teams of colleagues, current and former, staged a game of Bob-related trivia. (Question: "Bob Warren has taught at George Jay for how many years?" Answer: "100!")
He was feted by all manner of friends after that. Children's author Eric Wilson, on hand with wife Flo, told him: "Of all the schools that I've been to across the country, George Jay is number one when it comes to promoting literacy, and that's due to you." Retired colleague Bob Gretsinger performed Sentimental Journey in four-part harmony all by himself, playing two recorders with his nostrils before adding a third, in his mouth, for the finale. There's something you don't see every day. Thank heavens.
Warren began his teaching career in 1971 in Port Edward, near Prince Rupert, where he grew up. It wasn't his first career choice -- he had wanted to be a Mountie -- but was still something he had long felt like pursuing. Not that he had been a spectacular scholar himself; he says he was an average student, albeit one whose mischievous sense of humour might have earned him the occasional request to stay in school after the bell had rung. He's still a joker, is the one who recently presented a dieting colleague with a chocolate box full of carrot sticks.
Gerald Ford was president when Warren first walked into George Jay in 1976. Bobby Orr was MVP of the Canada Cup. There were way more kids then; what at one point was the biggest elementary school in B.C., with an enrolment of 1,200, today has just 260 students in kindergarten through Grade 5. It is classified as an inner-city school, though it defies the label. Spend a couple of hours in George Jay, you'll come out feeling better about the world.
Perhaps today's students are a little more distracted by electronics, but they have not, in essence, changed over the past 32 years, Warren says. "Kids are kids."
His advice for new teachers? "Be prepared to put yourself into it. If you're passionate about it, you'll do even better." Don't go into teaching if all you're thinking about are the generous holidays.
Bob can now devote more time to the farm that he and wife Anne Warren, also a teacher, have on West Saanich Road. Ducks, chickens, cows, as well as vegetables and flowers. One of the cows had twins on Father's Day. They joke that Bob used to carry pictures of his children and grandchildren, but now he shows pictures of the calves. Sometimes school classes would visit the farm, and sometimes the farm would visit the school: The occasional pig showed up to be kissed by the occasional staff member. Olympic triathlon champion Simon Whitfield ended up living on the farm off and on when, after coming to Victoria to train, he ended up volunteering at George Jay. "He's like one of the family," says Bob.
The high points of Warren's career? Writing a book marking the school's 90th anniversary in 1999 was one. Another was when Janine Roy, then at the helm of George Jay, was named one of Canada's top school principals in 2006.
The low point? "I honestly don't think there were any low points."
Warren, the vice-principal and teacher-librarian, isn't the only educator to hang it up, of course. Across B.C., the number of retiring teachers has climbed each year since 2000. The turnover rate won't slow anytime soon, according to the B.C. Teachers Federation.
That's particularly true around here: More than 40 per cent of teachers in each of the three Victoria-area districts are 50 years of age or older. The average retirement age for a B.C. teacher is 59. In 2006 the BCTF estimated that B.C. would lose 10,000 teachers over five years.
That's a lot of Bob Warrens going out the door. They all -- or at least those who put as much into teaching as Bob did -- will be missed.
jknox@tc.canwest.com
