Some thoughts on

Mrs Guernsey & Algebra Class

Oneida Junior High School

The fierce algebra teacher at Oneida was Mildred Guernsey. She taught my father algebra as (obviously) a very young teacher. My dad was born in 1909 and would be 96 yo now. She used blackboard erasers full of chalk dust to get kids' attention when they were chatting in class. She would tear down the aisle with her eraser and gently beat the the back of the "disruptive" kids so that their clothes were covered with chalk dust. Other times for more serious infractions, the student was made to stand outside the classroom on the stairs for the remainder of the period. Outside the classroom meaning outdoors!

Does anyone else remember this? Hello Joannna, this is great fun!

Patty Basile Miller

I was in Mrs. Guernsey's Algebra class in either 7th ,8th or 9th grade and yes I received the chalk board eraser treatmentment more than once. In fact she made me hit myself on my black chino's 6 times. She was real tough but she did make us learn.

Peter Maioriello

I was Miss Guernsey's homeroom and remember quite well the chalk erasers. I know she continued to teach for many years after we departed for Nott Terrace and later Linton.  Miss Guernsey would eat her lunch each day in the homeroom. The lunch consisted of a grapefruit and thermos of tea.  During our era she probably had a body fat content of 2 percent.  She would talk to me about the miles of blood vessels that each pound of body weight required the heart to pump through.  Apparently, she kept her weight down to unburden her heart.  At one time in her life, I believe she was much heavier and her diet regiment came about during the loss of weight.  I remember her walking to school and home each day.  It was for the exercise.  I wonder now if she owned a car.

Along with the chalk eraser there was the finger. No not that one, but a long thin strong index finger which she used to jab me and others in the chest while reciting, "you are a bandy roaster, you are a very bad boy."  Wonderful memory of a very effective and dedicated teacher.

Gary DiLallo  

It was the "zeros (0)," sixes (6)" and "eights (8)" that I very much remember with Ms. Guernsey.  Even now, when I write a check or do computations, if my zero is sloppy and the ends do not meet in perfection, I think of Ms. Guernsey; I do better with the other numerals, but I make certain that they all "meet".  This was actually an important mission on her part.  I believe that I have kept my old Algebra I notebook, believe it or not.  This past year, while doing a very complex income tax return manually (as opposed to with a program), I had to solve for two unknowns -- remember, inside the parenthesis; it was a daunting task and took hours, as I reduced the territory of unknowns, and then I remembered the work at Oneida with Ms. Guernsey (or I guess that she would like to have been called a "Miss," and not a Ms.)!!  It was all worth it.

Jane Cohen Bergner

Hi All,

Sorry to bore all you non Oneida School Classmates but two more stories from Peter Maioriello's memory banks.

    There were two Peter's in my Miss Guernsey Algebra Class. Miss G. told everyone in the class I was to be called peter m. and peter pandori was to be called peter. Well guess what happen every time I answered to peter, Yup , you guessed it, up to the chalk board grab the eraser and hit my pants, 6 times. To this day when someone calls peter , I double check to make sure that there are no other peter's around.

    The second memory is I was always forgetting  or losing my pencil. Very early in my class with Miss Guernsey she told me if I every forget my pencil I would be in trouble. Very soon thereafter,  Yup,  I forgot my pencil. I thought i could put one over on her by pretending to write with my other arm in front of my paper and pretend to write like I had a pencil. Sounded like a good ideal,  right. WRONG she said to me in the middle of the class lesson .... " Peter M why are you writing with such a small pencil" walking over to my desk she said " Peter M you don't even have a pencil"and yup  it was up to the black board with the eraser thing in addition to after school work. LOL .

Funny, thinking back  it seems like only yesterday.

Peter Maioriello