On June 20th, Fortune Esposito, MTA member for 32 years, was named first runner-up for the New York State Teacher of the Year Award. Chosen out of 525,000 NYSUT members, the state’s honoree had some timely and heartfelt words that spoke for all of his colleagues in the MTA.

He said,  “We’ve had so many black eyes in the press in the district and the thought that someone today was going to stand up and say, ‘And now, from the Enlarged City School District of Middle-town, something good’ – I stood there and said how proud I was to be starting my 33rd year in Middletown.”

Black eyes, indeed. Yet Forty’s accomplishments, while unique and reflective of his personal talents and generosity, also favorably redound upon all of his colleagues in the classrooms of our schools. His success symbolically belies the rude criticisms, condescending speeches, and disrespectful labels that teachers in Middletown have grown tired of hearing from those who should, and do, know better. What we forget when we allow ourselves to be demoralized, is what our critics fear to admit. As teachers, we embody the expertise, the generosity, and the will to accomplish the task of educating the next generations. The framework of the system is supposed to support the teachers who are really the “top” in “top down,” and “bottom” only in the sense of the bottom line. It cannot be “all about the students” if it is nothing about the teachers.

So as we begin this new school year, we should count our fortune, and show it off as often as we possibly can. We begin with Forty, first runner-up for the New York State Teacher of the Year Award and move on to the forty teachers and TAs who received tenure this year. Then there is MHS Science Department Chairperson Shirley Thompson, honored by a former student with a $4000 scholarship established in her name via Cornell University’s Merrill Presidential Scholar Program.

And where does this inventory of our fortune end but in the hands holding this paper on a break from working wonders?