Some thoughts on Mrs. Tracy & Miss Barnes |
Central Park Junior High had it's "fierce algebra teacher" as well. Her name was Mrs. Tracy. She spent almost the entire class, every class, throwing questions at students until she could find one that didn't have the answer and/or hadn't done their homework (namely - me!). She would then berate that student for what seemed like ten minutes or more - including disparaging remarks about the quality of one's parents for not raising you properly, and the many deficiencies of your particular lineage. One fellow student's mother went storming into the principal's office to complain about her after their child told them about her and that seemed to calm her down.
Speaking of characters - does anyone else remember Central's Miss Barnes? She was about four feet tall and had about 9 feet of hair usually tied up in a gigantic ball around her head - the story was that when her mother died she promised never to cut her hair. She would let it down once each year for her eighth grade homeroom class (which I had the great good fortune to be in!?) - it trailed behind her on the ground for several feet. She also used to keep a toboggan in the cloak room - never did see her use it though.
Rod Maxwell |
About time we heard from the Central Park crew. Rod wasn't the only one Tracy picked on - that is for sure! Poor Miss Barnes - her need for the toboggan (transportation in the winter) was to come down the hill across from the school. She had a car but never drove it - afraid. She and her family owned all the property around that area. Land that the school was on was donated to the city to build the school so she wouldn't have far to get to work. Halloween time was pretty scary around 'the hill'. She was referred to as "the witch". If you ventured up her drive - you might not come back. Didn't she always wear black or navy blue? Can't remember what she taught. Oh, memories...
Leigh V. Janis (Leona Van Natten) |
| Thanks Peter for the info. Yes I remember Miss Barnes very well. I think she was my French teacher and I remember her very long hair. Thank goodness I did not have Miss Tracy. But as a school counselor at Shen. my students had a math teacher with the same horrific characteristics. Barbara Battaglioli |
| I wondered how long it would be before someone remembered Miss Barnes at Central Park. What a character! I recall that she bicycled to school and always wore sneakers -- unheard of in a time when female teachers wore nylons and pumps. I was not in her class but heard tales of her regaling her classes with reenactments of historical battles, when she would crouch down behind her desk and "shoot". Cathy Moon |
| In answer to Rod Maxwell- Miss Barnes of Central Park Junior High School fame did indeed use that toboggan on the hills in Central Park. She also had an old-fashioned pair of ice skates with curled ends on which she skated at Central Park clothed in a long cloak which probably dated from the turn of the century. She was very graceful on the ice. She also was known to have come to school on snowshoes ,and she always wore sneakers which she said "let your feet breathe." Did you too have to face Albany as the capital every morning for either Pledge of Allegiance or to recite the preamble to the Constitution? She was like a Reader's Digest "My Most Unforgettable Character" come to life. Liz Shaw Albertson (albertso@sunydutchess.edu) |
| We can't let Oneida have all the attention! Yes, I also remember Mrs. Tracy very well. Here again, when she wasn't being mean and looking inordinately stern, I remember her having some good teaching skills on the subject of Algebra! Don't ask me to use any of them today, however! I haven't thought about Miss Barnes in years - your rendition of her was very accurate, Rod! All these emails lately certainly have me going down memory lane. I moved from Schenectady the day after graduation and have lived in Scarsdale, NY, Framingham, MA., Darien, CT. and now Bay Village, OH, so this is really fun for me. Also, it certainly adds some "hype" to the reunion! Can't wait - Maryann McLoughlin O'Reilly Maryann O'Reilly |
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I guess that struck a nerve! Thanks to all who added info on our beloved Miss Barnes. I do remember her ice skating on the pond at Central Park. I did not know all that information about her family owning the land and donating some of it for the school.
She taught history. Her favorite thing in all the world was the Poem "Evangeline". If anyone could manage to work Evangeline into an answer to any question she would commend the student. Her big reward was to "mark five A's on your paper and hand it in" (or 3 A's, or 10 A's depending on how elated she was to hear your answer).
I do remember her crouching behind the desk and shooting as Cathy Moon pointed out. I also remember on one occasion when she split the class into two groups - put one group on the window side of the room, the other across from them, and then told one group they were the British and the other group was the Colonists and we had to act like we had rifles and shoot at each other while she ran back and forth through the middle of the room shouting out ---- (don't remember exactly what - if I could I probably would have gotten a better grade from her!).
This is getting very exciting! Am looking forward to seeing many of you in August! Hope you all can come to the Friday night get together, because unfortunately I cannot make it to the Saturday affair.
Rod Maxwell __________________________ As a Graduate from Oneida School, where our class and our Teachers were all such perfect people, wheeeee this Central Park Miss Barns sounds a little scary to me.
Peter |
I also saw some commentary on a couple of CP teachers. Regarding Miss Mabel Barnes, she was indeed a character and had been when she taught my mother thirty years earlier. I never had her as a teacher but I never heard that she wasn't a good teacher. I don't know that her family had anything to do with the land around the school as reported by Leona Van Natten. That land had been the Robinson property. I don't believe that Miss Barnes was a relative.
I think the Kook prize could have gone to Agnes Regan across the hall. Miss Regan would wear nothing but red clothing and droned on and on about her collection of stray dogs. The girls knew how to set her off by complimenting her outfit. We didn't learn very much. Maybe I'm just bitter because she confiscated my squirt gun and didn't return it.
There were also comments about Mrs. Tracy. She was no walk in the park but you did learn from her. I would take her sarcasm over Mrs. Lavery's any day.
Gene Stoddard
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