English teacher Albert Bartucci is retiring this year after 13 years at Mayfield. Bartucci says he’ll miss the school, and staff and students say they’ll miss him too.

Bartucci has plenty of things he’ll miss, but also things he won’t. “I’ll miss the discussions with students about life and the quest to find out who we really are individually. I won’t miss the all-too-apathetic-attitude toward learning some students have developed,” Bartucci said.

Although there were some good memories throughout the years, there are some sad ones Bartucci will never forget. “The passing of some of our young folks will always be something I carry with me. Each of us has a bit of Holden Caulfield to our makeup wanting so desperately to save them all,” said Bartucci.

Bartucci is happy with the memories he’s made and the students he’s helped. “Well, besides the success of students, I enjoyed meeting some fantastic colleagues, particularly, the Lad himself, Mr. [Sean] McNamara and the cerebral John Sullivan,” Bartucci said.

Bartucci says he has no regrets on his career choice. “Becoming a teacher was one of my better decisions really and I wouldn’t change a thing,” Bartucci said.

Sean McNamara, another English teacher, has enjoyed his work-relationship with Bartucci over the years. We’d have real conversations, like talking about what we’re going to teach, and talk about our strengths and weakness of the classes that we develop,” McNamara said.

McNamara says he’ll miss his friendship with Bartucci the most. “On staff days we would go out to lunch together and socialize, we didn’t do very often but we tried, I just like his company. I’ll miss him in the corridor, I’ll miss saying good morning to him, over the years we’ve just developed a nice social and working relationship,” McNamara said.

Senior Brianna Lagore has Bartucci this year and has really liked him as her teacher. “If I could describe Mr. Bartucci in one word I would say truthful. He is always willing to speak his mind even if many people don’t agree with it. Mr. Bartucci has a very relaxed teaching style, but everyone from his class is bound to learn something new each day,” said Lagore.

Lagore says her favorite memory of being in Bartucci’s class is seeing all the different Powerpoints he makes. “The Powerpoints could be on anything yet he is so good at making them interesting. Mr. Bartucci knows that not many students like old English but he is able to teach it in a way we all learn best,” Lagore said.

Lagore also says that the one thing Bartucci does best is his ability to make light of things. “Even when his students perceive something as horrible, he is able to change our perspective and that’s something that I really respect,” said Lagore.

Bartucci’s last official day of employment at Mayfield will be on May 30.