BMUFSD: Q & A With Retiring Teacher Librarian Tara Phethean

Press release from the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District:

Todd Elementary School Teacher Librarian Tara Phethean is retiring this year. We talked with her about her career before becoming a teacher librarian, advice she would offer to the new librarian and funny incidents during her career.

Q: How long have you been a teacher at the school, what grade/subject and where did you teach before?

A: Teaching is a second career for me. I worked for 17 years in book publishing publicity before pursuing my master’s in library science. I have been the Todd Elementary teacher librarian for the last 22 years. With both careers there are the consistent threads of a love of reading and books.

Q: What are some memorable moments from your career at the school?

A: My favorite moments being a teacher librarian are when students truly connect with authors. I can see it on students’ faces and it brings me such joy. We have had so much fun with the small-group lunches, too. The other amazing times are when I recommend a book and the student returns to the library and tells me, “Thanks, I LOVED this book!” That’s pure book joy at its best!

Q: Can you share a funny incident that happened while teaching?

A: Early on in my career at Todd I was starting to read a story aloud to a class and they needed to settle down. Impromptu, I decided to use something from the exercise class I took the day before. We were doing sit-ups and the instructor invited us to imagine that we were climbing a rope as we moved up. That is how the tradition of “Climbing the Rope” began. Since then, we have expanded in the Todd Library to “Climb the Rope” in many different languages. It amazes me how many languages Todd students know. We have climbed the rope in Urdu, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, French, Japanese, Hindi, German, Turkish, Polish, Portuguese, Italian, Korean and Spanish. After we climb to ten, we always say “ready to begin again.” I guess I’ll climb the rope one last time and get ready to begin again with my new story – retirement.

Q: Do you have any advice to offer to a teacher starting out?

A: I will offer advice for the next Todd librarian starting out: I encourage them to always look for new developments in education and our world, such as AI, and to seek out new authors and illustrators and their books. We are so fortunate to have such strong support from the PTA and the community for our Author Visit Program. Keep it going!

Q: What are your plans for retirement?

A: I was elected by my national librarian colleagues to serve on the prestigious 2024 Caldecott Award Committee. My two-year stint culminates with the Newbery-Caldecott-Legacy Awards Banquet on June 30, 2024, in San Diego. This is an extraordinary way to wrap up my career and celebrate author/illustrators. It’s a bit of a mic-drop moment. After attending this banquet, in retirement I plan to read more, volunteer more, travel more with my already-retired husband, Dave, and spend more time with our daughters, Diana and Elena.

Q: If you can pass any wisdom to your students what would it be?

A: “Have fun reading,” is always my advice for students, and for everyone, for that matter.

Q: What is your favorite quote?

A: Wise headmaster Dumbledore tells Harry Potter “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

This press release was produced by the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.