Before the Road Ends...

There may just be time to return to a classroom. As a substitute teacher.

A long time ago, in a world now somewhat familiar but one that also feels distant enough to have taken place in a faraway galaxy, there was a comedy-drama television program called Room 222.

The program, which ran on ABC between September 1969 and January 1974, mostly took place in an 11th grade U.S. history class taught by fairly idealistic teacher Pete Dixon (portrayed by Lloyd Haynes), in a racially integrated Los Angeles high school. More than a year before All in the Family famously featured societal problems, Room 222 was one of the first half-hour television shows to cover issues including racism, drug use, obesity, homophobia, sexism, and parental difficulties. Some of the issues were particular to the 1970s, but others remain very, very relevant to this day. The show, which won Emmy awards in 1970 for Best New Series, Best Supporting Actor (won by Michael Constantine, who played Seymour Kaufman, the school’s principal), and Best Supporting Actress (for Karen Valentine, who played Alice Johnson, a wide-eyed, eager student teacher mentored by Mr. Dixon who later became a full-time instructor).

As a young girl, I watched the show and hoped to one day become a teacher who looked and acted just like Valentine’s Miss Johnson. I belonged to Future Teachers of America in high school and was lucky enough to have a few teachers there (I heartily thank and salute Robert Morrow, Avis Johnson and Amy Martzke, wherever you teach in the other world) who, more than I let them know at the time, embodied the Japanese proverb of “better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.”

All of that said, I decided not to study education in university. My career took a different turn, one that placed me in media relations and other communications fields. Though I did spend most of my full-time working years doing communications for education organizations, including the University of Minnesota Medical Center, the University of Oregon, and the Science Museum of Minnesota. The very best job I ever had was as a speechwriter for former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley during the last two years of the Clinton Administration.

When my mother died in April 2024, ten years after I became her full-time caregiver, I started thinking about what I was going to do with the rest of the time I might have left on life’s road. In the months that followed my mother’s death, I did some travel I couldn’t do while on caregiving duty. That was fun and fulfilling but still, there was something missing that I couldn’t quite define.

And then a little more than a year ago, I saw an old episode of Room 222 on YouTube and the idea of being a teacher started gnawing at me. I knew I couldn’t look like anything resembling Valentine’s Miss Johnson anymore, and I knew I probably didn’t want to do at this age all that is necessary to become a full-time teacher. Still, I’ve always thought that for as long as I have excellent health and the means to do something even vaguely meaningful for society, I ought to try my best to do so.

After reading a good deal about the great national shortage of substitute teachers, I decided about three weeks ago to get moving on trying to do my small part to alleviate that shortage. I started my security clearance work this week and hope to complete the full application process within the month.

Given what we hear about poor student performance in American public schools, the possibility of mass shootings, and a good many other criticisms of the U.S. education system, I’ve been called nuts and really nuts by some of the people I’ve told about my steps toward substitute teacher status. They did make some valid points and I know I’ve certainly done many, many nuts things in my life. But I want to give this idea a try. Even if I never become a great substitute teacher.

I look forward to talking in this space about my late in the road return to the classroom.

(Photo is of Karen Valentine, doing her best as Miss Johnson to impart knowledge)