FeedsSchool’s out
Graham Elementary principal will retire
Staff Writer
Click image to enlarge
Principal Al Bejczy will end his 41-year career in the Wayne-Westland schools when he retires this month.When Al Bejczy, principal of P.D. Graham Elementary School in Westland, walks out the door at the end of school this year, it will be a bittersweet exit.
After 41 years in the Wayne Westland Community School District, he is retiring. He said he looks forward to his retirement, but will miss the daily interaction with co-workers who have become his friends and children he has watched grow up.
A graduate of Eastern Michigan University, Bejczy also attended Henry Ford Community College. He said that going into education was “made to be.”
He started his career in 1966 as a teacher at Hamilton Elementary School.
“When I started, I was single and teaching was considered a critical skill,” Bejczy said. “I didn’t have to go to the Vietnam War. Some people were getting married and trying to avoid the draft, but I didn’t get drafted because I was a teacher.”
He taught at Hamilton for 10 years before he moved to Graham. He’s been there ever since.
Bejczy has taught fourth, fifth and sixth grade both in individual classes and with all three grades in the same classroom.
In 1998, Bejczy applied to be a principal, when there were openings at Lincoln Elementary, Elliott Elementary and Graham.
“When I applied, they said ‘You have good credentials, but why did you apply now?’” Bejzcy said. “They didn’t know why I waited so long.”
Bejczy explained that before then, he wanted to watch his children grow and play sports. Principals work long hours and often have late-night meetings.
“I didn’t have the time before,” he said, “but I told them, ‘Now I have the time to dedicate’.”
An extremely popular teacher, Bejczy said that parents rallied around him and even made petitions for him to become principal of Graham.
“I didn’t think it was going to happen,” he said. “I was very lucky (to be offered the job at Graham).”
Although he has enjoyed his time as a principal, he said that he preferred to teach.
“As a principal, you’re responsible for a little bit of everything,” Bejczy said. “Before, I just controlled my own classroom.
Bejczy said that he loved watching his students grow up. They have fond memories of their time in Bejzcy’s classroom, too. Former students often visit their old mentor and recently, he even received two letters from people he taught in the early ‘70s.
“A young man who is now working in Washington D.C. had me in 1972,” he said. “He told me he remembered me reading ‘The Outsiders’ to the class.”
Bejczy said some of his fondest memories are going on class trips. He used to take his students to Toronto, Niagara Falls and Cedar Point. Laughing, he recalled a time when his bus got lost on the way to Cedar Point in the late ‘90s.
Another thing Bejczy will never forget happened only a few years ago. Graham has an excellent Accelerated Reader program, and as a reward for the students, coordinator Karen White brought in a dunk tank.
“All the kids who were top readers got to dunk me,” he said.
Bejczy also appreciates the continued support he has gotten from the PTA, Superintendent of Schools Greg Baracy and the staff.
“We have an outstanding staff here at Graham and they have made me look wonderful,” he said. “It’s also important to have a wonderful secretary,” he added, citing longtime Graham secretary Linda Potter for her hard work.
After retirement, he is going to spend time with his three grandsons and travel. He plans to visit the Atlantic coast. After a year or so, he hopes he can come back to the district and be a substitute principal.
“I love hearing the kids read to me at Graham,” he said. “It will be nice to have the kids read to me and not have people say, ‘Mr. Bejczy, you’re needed in the office.’”
