A Super Send-Off for Dr. Michael McGill

Before Michael McGill became a superintendent he was an English teacher, and he used his rhetorical powers to make students again of the few hundred attendees at his farewell dinner when he quoted Mark Twain's "Begum of Bengal" speech, originally delivered in Liverpool in 1907. It was an apt tale about a small ship in the sea off New England, delivered to a crowd that was sitting in a room in Rye on the shore of the Long Island Sound. Though many were flummoxed by the meaning of the tale and vowed to rush home and "Google" it, his delivery was poetic – and the story echoed his own state of mind – likening himself to a small cargo boat, The Mary Ann, who meets the grand "Begum of Bengal" out of Canton. "

Referring to the Mary Anne, the story goes, "Then I am humble then I am properly meek, and for that little time I am only the Mary Ann' -- fourteen hours out, and cargoed with vegetables and tin-ware: but all the other twenty-three my self-satisfaction rides high, and I am the stately Indianian, plowing the great seas under a cloud of sail, and laden with a rich freightage of the kindest words that were ever spoken to a wandering alien, I think; my twenty-six crowded and fortunate days multiplied by five; and I am the Begum of Bengal, a hundred and twenty-three days out from Canton. Homeward bound!"

Delivering the story, McGill held the roomful of parents, PTA and PTC leaders, faculty, STA leadership, employees, administrators, legislators and scores of members of the current and former Board of Education spellbound. He appeared to be conveying his mixture of humility and appreciation of all the kind words he had heard that night. Confirming the sentiments that he was a difficult man to really know – he left the room wondering about the deeper meaning underlying "The Begum of Bengal."

The dinner, held on Thursday night June 12 at the Shenorock Shore Club included toasts, roasts, film, music and comedy to mark McGill's sixteen years in Scarsdale and to wish him well in his next life phase. Why a venue in Rye when there are so many places in Scarsdale? According to event organizers they selected Shenorock to reflect Mike's love of the outdoors -- and the lofty room overlooking the Sound did provide a beautiful setting for the dinner and the superintendent's farewell speech that centered on the seafaring tale.

The masters of the ceremony were Scarsdale Mayor Robert Steves, who formerly served as President and as a member of the Scarsdale Board of Education, and Florie Wachtenheim, also a former Board President and now a founder of the Scarsdale Schools Education Foundation. The tributes offered a highly entertaining show of Mike's life and 16 years of Scarsdale history, where everything old is new again. In film clips from Mike's introductory Board meeting, we learned that shortly after he arrived, the district voted on a bond for school construction that resulted in the large addition to Scarsdale Middle School. Now, as he departs, the district is again poised to ask voters to approve a bond to modernize Scarsdale High School and construct additions to Edgewood and Heathcote elementary schools..." Plus ca change Plus c'est la même chose."

But before celebrating the man of the hour, Wachtenheim turned to District Clerk Lois Rehm, who will also retire this year. Saying "Behind every good man is a woman," Wachtenheim credited Rehm with "moving it all along," and "wearing many hats," as she did everything from create the weekly board agendas to scheduling district meetings to running the budget elections. She was presented with a large bouquet of roses and a standing ovation of residents who wondered how the district would fare without her.

The SHS a cappella group For Good Measure sang and danced to "Come and Go With Me" and "All These Things I Have Done" and then the crowd was treated to a movie about Mike created by Technology Director Jerry Crisci and narrated by SHS Dean Gibbs. The film showed Mike playing baseball with the Chappaqua Little League, playing soccer and running track at Horace Greeley High School and then going on to Williams College where as a very handsome student he won a prize for "Clear Thinking," perhaps the earliest seed of his passion for the development of critical thinking skills as the basis for the "education for tomorrow."

At age 28 he became the superintendent of the Mt. Greylock Schools, went on to be headmaster at the Hopkins School and eventually became superintendent of the North Shore School District in Long Island, where he remained for 14 years. The film included tributes including one from former School Board member Jeff Blatt who said, Mike was "never satisfied with resting on his laurels. He was always looking for the next innovation." Susie Rush said, "He has a commitment to educational excellence and exemplary public education for every child in America. He challenged everyone to learn and grow."

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Pam Rubin, President of the PT Council recalled the groups monthly meetings with McGill who provided "support and compassion" and said Mike was "forward thinking, a true inspiration and a courageous leader." Former PT Council President Margaret Smith called these meetings "A master class with the best professor on campus." The PT Council announced a $35,000 gift to the Scarsdale Scholarship Fund in McGill's name and also presented him with a framed portrait of himself that included 1,000 pixilated images of his years in Scarsdale.

STA President Trudy Moses, also retiring this year, said she and Mike had a "profound impact on each other and the district," and that he led with cooperation and respect. She said that when he arrived 16 years ago he was challenged by the question of "How to move a great institution forward," and said he had "brilliantly succeeded." He pushed the faculty to "dare to know," and "to keep learning, and to question why." Her tribute was followed by a video of another wonderful a cappela performance – this one from the Scarsdale music teachers who sang "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" and ended up singing, "Retiring is not for you!"

SMS Principal Michael McDermott had the room in stiches saying that for McGill, the job of Superintendent was an "introvert's nightmare." Speaking of the fight against state mandates, McDermott said that McGill invited people from all over the world to visit the district but was unable "to get anyone to drive two hours south from Albany." In his retirement he urged McGill to "take up cooking, as vegetables don't talk back," to take up golf, where he could "look down at the ball, give it a name and whack it," and to "arise, go forth and conquer retirement."

Administrators Linda Purvis, Lynn Shain, Joan Weber and Jerry Crisci presented a hilarious spoof on all the acronyms that McGill attempted to vanquish, including the APPR which rates teachers based on their students test performance. They presented McGill with a leather bound copy of the Great Gatsby and a facsimile of Fitzgerald's first draft of the book that McGill taught to SHS students as a visiting "professor."

School Board President Suzanne Seiden thanked McGill on behalf of board members past and present and gave him a Raiders jacket inscribed with the number 16 for his tenure in Scarsdale. She said he taught us that "one person can make a difference," and that "when you stand still you are actually moving backwards." She credited McGill with attracting high quality teachers, for fighting state testing and teaching students to embrace the idea of, "Non Sibi," not for ourselves. She announced that McGill will be remembered for creating the Center for Innovation in Scarsdale with an annual symposium in his name.

Lois Rehm then led the group in singing a tailored version of "My Favorite Things" -- that became "Mike's Favorite Things."

Here are the words:

Talking with students and mentoring teachers
Critical thinking and cheering from bleachers
Great English novels all filled with Kings
These are a few of Mike's favorite things

Raspberry Snapple ... maroon colored vests
Advanced topic classes ... no teaching to tests
A non sibi motto that we can all sing
These are a few of Mike's favorite things

Kids in the garden ... and green is his dream
Rooting for Raiders ... and Williams, his teams,
Red Sox now wearing their World Series ring
These are a few of Mike's favorite things

(Chorus)
When the snow hits
When the press stings
When Mike's feeling sad
He simply remember his favorite things
And then he won't feel so bad.

Wachtenheim then read portions of McGill's letter to the district when he applied for the job seventeen years ago, joking that she "only read the parts of the letter she could understand." In the letter he said that "the challenge is to sustain and extend a successful district" and "to think outside the box." He vowed to "listen to the other voice, the opposition."

Then it was finally time for McGill to have the last word. He said, "I thought we would just plant a tree and I would be off. But now I am happy I came." He acknowledged the gifts and recalled the disappearance of a student when he was Superintendent of Mt. Greylock schools, saying "the social fabric is so fragile and so easily torn to threads. We must eke out what wisdom we can to knit up the torn fabric of the world, even as it unravels."

He told everyone that was grateful for their affection and expressed his humble appreciation by recounting Mark Twain's speech about the Begun of Bengal.

"Many and many a year ago I read an anecdote in Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. A frivolous little self-important captain of a coasting-sloop in the dried-apple and kitchen-furniture trade was always hailing every vessel that came in sight, just to hear himself talk and air his small grandeurs. One day a majestic Indiaman came ploughing by, with course on course of canvas towering into the sky, her decks and yards swarming with sailors, with macaws and monkeys and all manner of strange and romantic creatures populating her rigging, and thereto her freightage of precious spices lading the breeze with gracious and mysterious odors of the Orient. Of course, the little coaster-captain hopped into the shrouds and squeaked a hail: Ship ahoy! What ship is that, and whence and whither?' In a deep and thunderous bass came the answer back, through a speaking-trumpet: The Begum of Bengal, a hundred and twenty-three days out from Canton -- homeward bound! What ship is that?' The little captain's vanity was all crushed out of him, and most humbly he squeaked back: Only the Mary Ann, fourteen hours out from Boston, bound for Kittery Point with nothing to speak of!' That eloquent word only' expressed the deeps of his stricken humbleness.

"And what is my case? During perhaps one hour in the twentyfour -- not more than that -- I stop and reflect. Then I am humble then I am properly meek, and for that little time I am only the Mary Ann' -- fourteen hours out, and cargoed with vegetables and tin-ware: but all the other twenty-three my self-satisfaction rides high, and I am the stately Indianian, plowing the great seas under a cloud of sail, and laden with a rich freightage of the kindest words that were ever spoken to a wandering alien, I think; my twenty-six crowded and fortunate days multiplied by five; and I am the Begum of Bengal, a hundred and twenty-three days out from Canton. Homeward bound!"

Many proclamations were issued in honor of Dr. McGill: Read two of these proclamations here: