Posted on 12/20/2010 2:12:45 PM PST by Coleus
Glen Rock High School world language teacher Alphonse Dattolo has a soft spot for underdogs. Consider the evidence: he was a devoted Phillies fan long before they shed their ignoble title as the "losingest team"; his favorite novel is "Don Quixote" - a story teeming with characters challenging the odds; and his favorite movie is "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" - a tale of a poor girl holding fast to her dream of getting a good education.
It may be this soft spot that keeps him coming to school day after day ... after day ... for a total of 7,000 days without one single absence to teach Glen Rock's students how to master Spanish and French. That amounts to nearly 40 years on the job without ever taking a sick day.
Dattolo, who wears a suit and tie to school each day, said the driving force behind his 7,000-day streak is his dedication to his students. "I want to show them I'm on their side, that if they come to my class to learn, I will be there for them." A Haledon resident, Dattolo credits his streak to "a little bit of luck, a lot of drive and good health." He's had a few near-misses and has occasionally been tardy due to ice or show, but has never missed a full school day.
Proximity to Glen Rock has been helpful, he admitted. "If I lived far away, in Rockland County or western New Jersey, I wonder if I'd have this streak," he said. Dattolo can't remember a time when he didn't love going to school. He had a perfect attendance record as a student, missing only a half-day of school in 7th grade to get a flu shot. He credits one of his teachers with planting the seed to become an educator.
"You never can tell how a teacher is going to affect you," he said of a seventh grade teacher who praised his work in a world language class. "It was just a quick remark, but it made me think, 'Gee, I might like languages.' From then on, my love of languages was always with me." In addition to teaching high school Spanish and French, Dattolo also teaches college courses four evenings a week - two at William Paterson University in Wayne and two at Bergen Community College in Paramus. A 1971 graduate of Montclair State College (now Montclair University), he holds two master's degrees - one in Spanish and one in education administration - and continues to take post-graduate courses.
"There's so much to learn," he said with a broad smile. "The more I learn, the more I can give to my students."
Dattolo came to Glen Rock High School in 1988 after several years teaching world languages at Manchester Regional High School in Haledon. In 1996, he received the Robert Ax Award, which is awarded annually to a "distinguished leader" who embodies the values upheld by Robert Ax, the first principal of Glen Rock High School. These values are "love of people in general and young people in particular; exceptionally high degree of personal integrity; loyalty to colleagues, to the community, and most of all-to the students."
Never regarded as an easy teacher, Dattolo said it's a reputation he's willing to bear. A stickler for grammar, he acknowledged that "grammar is a dirty word nowadays. Yes, it can be tedious and boring, but it teaches you to speak properly." Getting across the general idea of what you want to say "is not enough," he added, even for students just getting their feet wet with a new language. "I want them to learn how to speak correctly right from the start," he said, "because how you present your thoughts, how you demonstrate your exposure to the language is what matters."
He promises his students that learning Spanish or French grammar will help them learn English grammar, as well. As a student, he couldn't get the hang of diagramming sentences. "But once I learned Spanish grammar, the rules of English grammar became clear," he said. "I know it's tedious," he tells his students, "but when the smoke clears you'll come out ahead."
Despite what his students may think, Spanish and French grammar are not all that occupy Dattolo's hours away from school. An avid baseball fan, he enjoys adding to his large collection of baseball memorabilia. He served as faculty advisor to the high school baseball history club until last year when cuts in state aid led to cuts in school clubs. An avid reader, he also has a library of nearly 9,000 volumes in his home. He enjoys collecting books about Abraham Lincoln and has collected copies of Don Quixote in several different languages, including French, Hebrew, Hungarian and Czechoslovakian.
He is on the lookout for a Latin translation. He never thought about accumulating school days until a student noticed, during his first year of teaching, that he had clocked 145 days without a single absence. "She started keeping track," he said. Eventually he realized he was onto something. Dattolo clocks 1,000 days approximately every five and a half years. The fanfare for his 5,000th day in 2000 "was astonishing," he said. That year, he was featured in People magazine, on WOR radio, and on the NBC-TV Today show, which was filmed in the high school with an audio/visual connection to Matt Lauer in New York City.
He was approached by the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Oprah Winfrey Show, "but I had to turn them down," he said, "because they film in the daytime and I'd have to miss class." On Dec. 15, Dattolo marked his 7,000th day of teaching without a single absence. This month, he will also be featured on the Madison Square Garden (MSG) Varsity network.
Unsure whether his streak is a record-breaker, Dattolo said he has few concerns about breaking it anytime soon. "I take it one day at a time," he said. Approaching each day with his students foremost in his mind helps keep him focused and eager to teach. "I never thought I'd go this far, but I love what I do," he said. "The day I no longer love it, I'll retire."
He and Brett Favre should exchange autographs. Iron men.
I wish I had an immune system like his.
You do. He just decided to go to work anyway and get everyone around him sick, instead of staying home.
Think about it. In the last 20 years I haven’t been sick to the point that I absolutely could not have gone to work. I would have pretty miserable, but I could have made it through the day.
Dedicated teachers like this are as rare as hen’s teeth.
I absolutely hate it when I get sick because of a coworkers “dedication”.
Sounds like a great and dedicated guy. That said, he DOES get three months plus off a year, does he not?
I hate it when weaklings blame others for their own physical problems.
“Sounds like a great and dedicated guy. That said, he DOES get three months plus off a year, does he not?”
Ah, yes. I’m guessing that he also puts in extra time after school helping kids with missed work. He then grades papers in the evenings and perhaps works on lesson plans for a few hours on Saturday.
It all evens out in the end.
He just did a guest shot on Steve Malzberg’s radio show...
If I had three months of vacation a year, I could miss a lot fewer days, too.
What a nice thing to say
Or maybe just a few text messages and pictures.
I agree spread the love and germs with everyone.
Bret
Fav’re
Wow.
“You do. He just decided to go to work anyway and get everyone around him sick, instead of staying home.”
Its inconsiderate to go to work sick. This isn’t a milestone. This is being a jerk. Everyone gets sick, even if we need a mental health day. In 40 yrs I bet this guy had the flu, bronchitis, or strep. If he’s never been sick ever, god bless him.
As for 7,000 days with no absences, as a HR Director, I saw employees who were “always there” filling seats. I also know that they came in sick, passed it on to others and took out a large number of staff during flu season leaving others to pick up the slack for those who were out. Also, the seat fillers weren't always the greatest employees. They showed up, brown nosed when they saw the opportunity and were some of the best delegators of work that I've ever met. I was never one for giving bonuses or awards for merely attendance.
That is SUCH a huge problem, made worse by employers who consider employees calling in sick to be "slacking." Those employers are just as much at fault as the sick employee.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.