THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 17, 1994 TAG: 9406150124
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 3B EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON
DATELINE: 940617 LENGTH: Long
``Mrs.'' Mary S. Gaspar, 55, and her daughter, ``Miss'' Susan S. Gaspar, 35, are both first-grade teachers at Birdneck Elementary School.
{REST} Susan Gaspar has been a teacher there for six years; but this is the first year of public school teaching for her mom, who founded, directed and taught at her own private pre-school for 25 years.
``It was very confusing for the children,'' said Mary Gaspar. ``I thought they would call me the `old new teacher' and her the `young old teacher,' but they just called me the `tall teacher.' We found it was easiest to just be Mrs. and Miss.''
Neither Gaspar is particularly tall, although Mary Gaspar's wispy thinness may make her appear so. With a non-stop smile and a sweet, quiet voice, she commands attention without sternness. Her tanned, blonde daughter has the same smile, and she seems shy about taking credit for guiding her mom through the rigors of first-year teaching.
Mary Gaspar said it was ``pure providence'' that she ended up at the same school with her daughter. She said she believes her mother, who died last year, ``was up in heaven, looking down and helping'' her get a position at Birdneck just a few days before school started last fall.
Even though the two women teach at opposite ends of the sprawling school, theirs is a working partnership of sorts. Both insist that they are best friends, inside and outside school.
``In the beginning, we would eat lunch together, then Susan would model hands-on math for me. She would knock on my door and remind me that a paper was due in the office, or that a fire drill was coming up,'' Mary Gaspar said. ``I had never been very structured before.''
It is this lack of structure, of knowing all the rules, that causes a lot of stress for first-year teachers, Susan Gaspar said. She was worried about how her mother would adjust, and she just wanted to help her out. Susan Gaspar has taught for the past 14 years.
``Oh, she helped me with lesson plans, the structure of the schedule, classroom management, the curriculum. She's my role model. I want to be just like her when I grow up,'' joked Mary Gaspar.
``I always thought she probably was a good teacher; but, once I got into the role, I realized how absolutely expert she is,'' the proud mother added.
The two women are each other's best supporters. Susan Gaspar, who said she ``always wanted to be a teacher because Mom was one,'' used to help her mother at the Beach Day School she founded and directed. Mary Gaspar said that while she had 25 years' experience in education, teaching in public school was much different than teaching in a private pre-school.
Thomas E. Gregory, principal at the 8-year-old Birdneck Elementary, called Mary Gaspar a strong, logical choice to fill a position at the school this year. Total enrollment at the school is 1,360, and there are 11 first-grade classes.
``Based on her background and experience, she was a strong candidate,'' Gregory said. ``I saw a person who had gone back to school, to complete her education, someone who wanted to change what she had been doing and really wanted to teach in public school.''
Gregory said having her daughter working in the same school ``seems to have been good for Mrs. Gaspar. She has had someone close to her, to help her make adjustments.''
The mother and daughter are indeed close. They live within a half mile of each other at the oceanfront, and they often take walks together along the beach in the evenings. They ``talk shop a lot,'' they said, and it helps that they know each other's students from school.
They eat lunch together most days at school, and said their relationship is one more of sisters than mother and daughter.
Last Christmas, however, it was obvious just who was who, when ``Mom came to my classroom and presented me with a Christmas gift in front of the children,'' said Susan Gaspar. ``It was a framed photograph of me in my first-grade class at W.T. Cooke Elementary.'' Susan Gaspar began her teaching career at the same school where she had started the first grade, and some of her teachers were still working there when she returned as an adult.
And, in the past, Mary Gaspar has taught many children of her colleagues at Birdneck, when the youngsters were her students at the Beach Day School.
``I think the children here are more aware that Susan's my daughter than that I'm her mother,'' Mary Gaspar said. ``They ask me to tell them about her when she was a little girl. I tell them a lot of stories, and sometimes I use things she did when she was a child in the stories.''
``Oh, Mom, no!'' said her daughter.
In addition to Susan Gaspar, who is the eldest child, Mary Gaspar has a daughter who lives in Hawaii, a son who lives in Virginia Beach and one granddaughter.
by CNB