Recently, I wrote the letter below to the North Reading Transcript asking the School Committee to consider naming the new middle school after Mr. Jones. Take a look, and if you agree, please sign the petition or send your own letter to the Transcript and/or the School Committee. Will follow up with more information on my Facebook page. Thanks, guys!

 

Dear Editor:

 

As a proud graduate of North Reading Public Schools, I am writing to urge my hometown to seize an opportunity that will inspire students and residents for generations to come. I am asking the School Committee to name the new middle school after a lifelong North Reading educator who has forever enriched thousands of young lives, including my own:

 

Charles E. Jones.

 

North Reading has a long tradition of naming schools after citizens who’ve made our classrooms special places to learn and grow. The J. Turner Hood School is named for a World War I veteran who became a teacher, a coach, a principal, and North Reading’s superintendent. The Leland Dennis Batchelder Elementary School is named for a longtime School Committee member. E. Ethel Little, a poet and community activist who was also a School Committee member for more than two decades, saw a new elementary school named in her honor when she was 75 years old. 

 

There has never been a more important time to revive this worthy tradition. A wealth of research now shows that after parents, the biggest impact on a child’s success comes from the man or woman at the front of the classroom. As a country, we need to do a better job of treating teaching as the honored, heroic profession it is. Naming more schools after our best, most dedicated educators is a simple yet powerful place to begin. And while North Reading has been blessed with an abundance of outstanding teachers to choose from, Charlie Jones stands out.

 

The facts of his tenure are impressive in their own right: thirty-eight years of teaching social studies and American history, thirty-one of which he also served as the Vice Principal of the Middle School. He spent six years in the Army Reserve, is a member of the Massachusetts Bar, and has received numerous accolades, including several nominations for Massachusetts Teacher of the Year – nominations that Charlie only declined because he felt the honor belonged to a full-time teacher.

 

And yet, those of us who’ve had the privilege to know Charlie Jones or sit in his classroom understand that no list of achievements can truly capture the full measure of what he’s done for the students of North Reading. 

 

To this day, I don’t remember my eighth grade history textbook, or for that matter, any of my history textbooks. But I still remember Mr. Jones’ class. I remember choosing a newspaper article for discussion every morning, because that’s how I first became interested in world events. I remember learning every amendment to the Constitution, because that’s how I first became interested in government. I remember memorizing every word of the Gettysburg Address, because that’s how I first became interested in speechwriting. I still have the notes from the first mock trial I ever prosecuted, and the video of a news show my friends and I produced about Civil War battles. And like hundreds of other North Reading students and parents, I still remember our eighth grade summer trip as if it was yesterday.

No matter how many people I tell about the summer trip, the reaction is always the same: Are you serious? You had a teacher who lugged a bunch of eighth graders on a cross-country camping trip during his summer vacation, for no extra pay? And he did it for twenty-seven years?

 

Yes. And we learned something new about our country and its rich history at every stop. We learned the value of discipline and teamwork. And most of all, we learned about what it means to be a community – from the local car washes and yard sales that raised money for the trip, to the many parents and residents who volunteered their time, to the bonds of friendship that remain decades later.

 

I have this image that I can’t get out of my head. It’s an image of a sixth grader who, years from now, is dropped off at her new school for the very first time. And as she looks up at a sign that says “The Charles E. Jones Middle School,” she asks her mother “What did he do?” And the mom answers, “He taught a lot of young people in this town that they could do anything, and then he showed them the way.”

 

Our children need more heroes. Let’s make sure they always remember one of North Reading’s finest. If you feel the same way as I do, please join me in urging our wonderful School Committee members to take action.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jon Favreau

N.R.M.S. ‘95