Ladabouche retires after 41 years in Milton

By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer
mireporter@mac.com

After 41 years in Milton's elementary schools, teacher Bill Ladabouche is retiring this summer. Seen here in his classroom (photo, left), Ladabouche is holding a couple of his favorite mementoes: a copy of the school newspaper that he edited for years and one of the many hand-drawn hot rods he gave to students as rewards.

Ladabouche with his fifth grade class back in 1988. We didn't recognize any of his students right away, but we're guessing at least a couple of them still live in town. See any one familiar?

First there were students in Bill Ladabouche's elementary school classroom; then there were children of former students and then—several years ago-- the first grandchild, of a woman he once taught in sixth grade.

It's the sort of thing that can happen when you teach for 41 years in the same town--- though it's probably not going to happen again, given that Ladabouche is retiring at the end of this school year.

Asked for his thoughts on that experience, Ladabouche said he enjoys teaching more than ever, though he added the ever-increasing bureaucratic pressures that come from outside the classroom will not be missed.

“In a way, it's a wonderful feeling and in a way it's not,” he said. “My entire adult life, the only thing I've ever done is be a teacher, and I can't say that after a couple more weeks.”

“It's definitely sweet and sour, I guess you would say,” he added.

Ladabouche said the best part of teaching is being with the kids and giving instruction, which he does in the time honored “stand and deliver” style, which centers on the teacher delivering lessons to the students.

It's an approach many readers may remember firsthand, though Ladabouche said the growing trend in classrooms is having the students do three or four things at once. Regardless, Ladabouche remains a firm believer in the old school, saying his key is keeping it interesting, using an arsenal that features visual aids and humor.

While that takes a lot of preparation, Ladabouche said that process helps him cope with something markedly akin to stage fright.

“I'm very uncom-fortable in front of groups,” he admitted. “I almost die in the first day of school every year.”

“It never changes,” he continued. “Even 41 years later, I'm always over-prepared.”

In any event Ladabouche's peers described him as somebody who makes a lasting impression on the kids. Sarah Allen, who teaches in the classroom next door, noted that former students come back from high school and beyond to visit. There was even a former student in the military who came back to visit while on leave to visit, she said.

Having known Ladabouche as a colleague for 24 years, grade six teacher Judy Brady had some theories on why that's the case.

“He always had a sympathetic ear; he'll always listen and give you advice,” she said. “He works hard and he really cares about the students.”

A Proctor native, Ladabouche said he couldn't remember if he decided to teach while in high school, or if it was simply an outgrowth of going to a school his family could afford.

However, Ladabouche was very clear on the circumstances that brought him to Milton, remembering a time when teachers were scarce and superintendents would comb college campuses looking for help. Back then, he was an undergraduate at Castleton State College, and Ladabouche said they used to joke at mealtime about “the coast being clear of recruiters” and it being safe to hit the mess hall.

It was on such an occasion that young Ladabouche met a soft spoken principal from Milton. What ensued was a brief conversation about the old Catamount Stadium race track, which had long lasting implications for the young racing enthusiast.

“He said he was from Milton, and I asked if that was where Catamount was,” remembered Ladabouche. “He said ‘yes' and I said I'd be up, and I when I got up there in the fall, the principal wasn't there anymore, but Catamount was.”

Ladabouche said it didn't take long for him to capitalize on that. In fairly short order, he was doing letters for some of the cars, and progressed from there to writing the stadium's racing programs and eventually weekly racing journalism.

The track closed in 1987 (giving way to the Catamount Industrial Park) and was on the verge of becoming a historical footnote, but Ladabouche launched a website (www.catamountstadium.com) dedicated to its history, after noting there was nothing about it on the Internet. From there, the site grew to encompass the history of Vermont racing i n general, and it's one of the things Ladabouche plans to continue while in retirement.

Those interests also impacted the classroom, whether it was a widely recognized student newspaper he edited, or his hand-drawn illustrations of racing cars, which can still be seen on one of his classroom walls.

Ladabouche said the drawings were rewards he formerly used to encourage some students, adding that it certainly had an impact on at least some of them.

“I still have kids who come up to me…and they tell me they still have their race car put away,” he said. “Often it's these great big men and some of them look older than I do.”

“It's funny, but that's what they remember,” he added.

Ladabouche remem-bers quite a bit himself, according to Brady. She credited him with an encyclopedic memory of students, who they're related to, and what they grew up to be. He's always got a story, she added, calling him the school's unofficial historian.

For his own part, Ladabouche said the job has changed completely since he started back in the 1968. He remembered one female student being sent home, because she had the audacity to wear blue jeans instead of a dress to school. Corporal punishment was also allowed back then, though Ladabouche said he didn't like that aspect of the old school.

Having taught students in grades 4-6 over that span of time, Ladabouche said they haven't changed all that much. Instead, he said federal No Child Left Behind requirements have added a lot of stress to the job, and he was similarly unenthusiastic about the district's efforts at revising the curricula—something he's always designed himself.

Another common thread of speaking with Ladabouche's colleagues was that the subject of his tenure hardly ever came up. Instead, they focused on his personality and knack for teaching. Among those was administrative assistant Marie Morton, who described Ladabouche as a hands-on, no-nonsense type of teacher, one who really made a difference in her son's life.

“He's just a quiet force,” added MES principal Jen Wood. “He makes really strong connections with the kids, and they'll miss him.”