Overview:
Walter Huston, principal of Gill Elementary School, is retiring after 37.5 years in education. He has spent his career in elementary education as a teacher and administrator across New England. Huston hopes his successor will continue the existing initiatives and search for more resources for the school.
GILL — When he was just 5 years old, Walter Huston already knew he wanted to a teacher. He loved the idea of having the biggest desk in the room, the ability to lead the classroom and his own chalkboard to write on.
“I just thought that was the greatest job,” he said, laughing. “Why wouldn’t anybody want to be a teacher?”
Decades later, Huston has spent most of his life living out that very dream. After 37 and a half years in education, including three and a half years as principal of Gill Elementary School, the 59-year-old South Deerfield resident is retiring on Tuesday, Dec. 23.
Huston said this is the right time to step away, but not without some sadness over leaving the students.
“The biggest thing I’m grieving right now is saying goodbye to my kids on Tuesday,” Huston said, “and I do get emotional.”
Huston achieved his first teaching job in the North Shore region just after graduating from Gordon College with a degree in elementary education.
From there, Huston spent 25 years working in elementary schools across the North Shore and the rest of Massachusetts, eventually moving into his first rural principal position in New Hampshire. He holds a master’s degree in special education from Lesley University (then Lesley College) and earned his doctorate at New England College in educational leadership.
Huston said that in the time he’s been at Gill Elementary, he’s come to appreciate the students, their families and the staff. He expressed his fondness of the “fantastic parents” who support education, noting how parents and staff actively support the school’s garden program that was revived after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think that’s one of the biggest things; our children and their parents are a huge strength of the school,” Huston said.
From his perspective of teaching in schools where there are hundreds of students in each grade, and being an administrator for a total 116 students between preschool and sixth grade at Gill, Huston said there are upsides and downsides to a rural education.
One positive element of rural schools like Gill is the oversight that teachers can have over the smaller classrooms, and the connection students make while spending time together from preschool through sixth grade. On the other hand, rural schools like Gill are dealing with limited resources and minimal space for extra educational opportunities.
As a new principal comes to the school, Huston hopes to see existing initiatives, like the school garden, continue to grow, along with the search for more resources like grants and more opportunities for before-school and after-school activities. He said he hopes his successor leads with a passion for the students, and loves the job.
“I think the big thing is just to not to lose sight of what makes Gill special. I think that’s going to be really important,” Huston said about the transition.
As Huston finishes up at the school, a new principal has been named. Gill-Montague Regional School District interim Superintendent Tari Thomas announced on Friday that Justin Mickiewicz will be the new principal at Gill Elementary. His first day will be Jan. 12.
“Mickiewicz brings 24 years of dedicated experience as an educator, including significant time as a fifth-grade teacher and department head in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, where he focused on data-driven instruction, collaborative professional learning, and fostering a culture of high expectations and continuous improvement,” Thomas’ announcement reads.
Looking to the future, Huston said he’s still figuring out what he’ll do in retirement, but he plans to spend time traveling with his partner and will stay involved in the western Massachusetts community he’s come to love.
“I have spent 55 out of 59 years in the schoolhouse,” Huston said. “I’ve never been outside a schoolhouse. I don’t know what it’s like, and so it’d be fascinating to take the first few months off to do some traveling, do some things that I haven’t been able to do, visit some friends and family, and then in the fall, do something different.”