Larry Brown: A Teacher to Remember

Scarsdale students and staff were saddened to hear their beloved history teacher, Larry Brown, will be retiring this year after 14 years of teaching at SHS. Students who were in Mr. Brown's classes, consider themselves lucky to have spent the year enjoying his humor and kind personality. "Mr. Brown has the ability to make any subject he taught fun and exciting", stated Steven Berke, one of Brown's students.

Brown has spent his entire teaching career at Scarsdale High School. In fact, he never applied or interviewed at any other school. Brown explained his path to teaching, "I had sold my interest in a business. I was in my late 40's and my wife looked at me and said you're not staying home. Then the next day I went and signed up at Manhattanville to get my certification to teach. I ended up substituting here before I was even certified and while I was here, Mr. Harrison asked me if I wanted to do my student teaching here, under his guidance. A job opened while I was here student teaching which I filled for the rest of the year and when it opened permanently I applied". The SHS community feels lucky that Brown started and ended his teaching career here.

When I asked Larry if he thought that he would like teaching when he first started, he explained to me that he tried to have no expectations and kept an open mind about starting his new career. Brown explained that since he had already been working for 25 years before starting to teach, he was accustomed to the stress of work and did not have trouble with the pace of SHS. "I was certainly satisfied with teaching because you can't help but love the kids in this building. This is the beauty of teaching at Scarsdale. Your colleagues are unbelievable professional and wonderful to be around. The administration is incredibly helpful. The driving force; the beauty of teaching in this building are kids. These kids are remarkable to be around." After a few years of working at SHS Brown was offered an administrative position. "If I wanted to be in the admin world I would have never left business. I was running things, and then I wanted to be with the kids. I did not want to do anything that took me away from being in a classroom with kids". This sentiment displays Brown's outlook and personality as a teacher. Brown looks to make true connections with his students in and out of the classroom.

Mr. Brown plans on continuing his connections with his past and current students even after retirement. When I asked Larry about his plans after retirement, he told me about a charitable organization he is in the process of creating that involves past graduates from SHS. "I am looking to put together a community service organization that will connect with graduates from this building that now live in the area. I started that process of putting together a large network of kids who are graduates of Scarsdale who want to do community service but they don't have the time to organize it". Along with working on community service, Brown said he is involved in a couple business opportunities that will keep him occupied after retirement.

Mr. Brown finds it rewarding to watch students grow over the course of their four years at SHS. "You could tell the freshmen that Thomas Jefferson was black and they would compliantly write it in their notebook and make sure that they share that with you on the next test. And you could tell a senior that the sun is out on a bright day and they will fight with you for 49 minutes. That has been true from my beginning at Scarsdale High School through today. And I love both parts of that, watching the remarkable evolution that kids go through in this building over four years." Mr. Brown also noted that he has stayed in touch with many students who have already graduated. "Watching kids now who I had as juniors and seniors that are out of the building now is amazing. I am having dinner tonight with a student who graduated four years ago. Kids who weave their way through this community are incredible kids. I will be crying at graduation. I will be wearing sunglasses because I will be crying."

Sam Fisch, an SHS graduate who is close to Mr. Brown explained Brown's impact on his life,"Mr.Brown is in my books for being one of the most influential people that I have crossed paths with. He embraccs qualities that most of us can only wish to acquire in our life. As a teacher he attempts to influence those qualities onto his students. Larry pushes his students inside and outside of the classroom to go beyond what they think they can do. By, far, Brown was and still is the funniest, sincerest and most lovable guy I know."

Mr. Brown's emotional attachment to his students has made him an impactful teacher at Scarsdale High School and he will truly be missed.