Long-time Kindergarten teacher Phyllis De Stefano will retire at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. For 43 years, Mrs. De Stefano has worked at the Bernardsville Elementary School, also known as Bedwell. In 1981, she first came to the district to student-teach third graders and soon got hired. She helped hundreds of students prepare for the rest of their education and to better people.
After spending 43 years at Bedwell De Stefano feels like, “It has been a second family to me.” Through all her ups and downs, the school was always supportive. Working at Bedwell is a big part of her identity that she will miss the most. Another identity that many former students recall of her is Curious George. Many years ago, she started handing out a stuffed animal of Curious George to students to take on adventures. Each student would have a chance and they would write a journal entry once done. So far, Curious George has been to Ireland, Japan, and all over the United States, and with each, a journal that De Stefano has kept.
Even with maternity and sick leaves, she is a big part of the elementary school’s history. “I love teaching kindergarteners…they’re just so endearing, and I’ll miss that,” says De Stefano. Along with her missing the school, the school will miss her and BES principal Mr. Koellhoffer, who will miss their “conversations in the morning… a great time for [them] to catch up.” By teaching kindergarten for so long, De Stefano has learned many important life lessons that shape who she is today. De Stefano learned that “every child’s so different, and every child comes from different worlds and different families.”
She learned to look at them as a whole picture considering their personalities, backgrounds, and lifestyles along with their academics. “Sometimes things don’t work out the way you think they’re gonna work out,” De Stefano adds. “She is a professional…she takes her job seriously, but knows how to have fun with it,” Koellhoffer says. Taking each mistake and using it to become a better person and teacher has turned her into a great teacher with great qualities all around. With all this knowledge that she has gained throughout her experience working at Bedwell, she will enter retirement excited for new things to come.
“I’m excited for the flexibility,” she says. From taking care of her newborn granddaughter to traveling the world, she is excited to enter this new chapter of her life. “I’m excited to not get up at quarter to six anymore” De Stefano adds. With only the weekends free during the school year, she is excited to be able to pick a random day to go on a day trip instead of waiting for the weekends to cram everything she wants to do.
Hundreds of people including students and colleagues have a fond memory of her. One former student Cierra Knaus, a current freshman who was taught by De Stefano learned, “what a caring teacher should be like,” Knaus ’28. The best memory that Mr. Koellhoffer had of her was also his first memory of her. “There was a stretch of time when I was brand new and on one of the first days I was in my office, she knocked on my door and introduced herself” Koellhoffer recalls. Mrs. De Stefano has such a bubbly personality and always welcomes everyone. Leaving a large legacy, Mrs. De Stefano will face a new chapter of her life.
