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Schools

H-H to Honor Lifelong Educator

Connie Malatesta's 35-year teaching career will be permanently memorialized.

When Constance Malatesta started her teaching career at , the current student body was decades from being born — and many of their parents hadn’t even entered the world yet. However, her mark on the high school has spanned generations and will be acknowledged in an awards ceremony Friday.

Malatesta will be inducted into the , alongside several of her former students.

Malatesta joined the district in 1965 and retired in 2000. During her tenure, she worked as an English teacher, headed the school’s English Department for more than 20 years and also served as both principal and assistant principal.

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When she graduated from high school in 1957, career opportunities for women were largely limited to nursing, secretarial work and teaching, Malatesta said, but her voracious appetite for reading attracted her to the last field — and the connection she developed with her students kept her there for 35 years.

Before coming to Hatboro-Horsham High School, Malatesta spent several years teaching at a private academy, making just $1,800 a year.

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While the $5,000 annual salary the offered her to start was attractive, she said the atmosphere at the high school was what really impressed her.

“I just fell in love with the school,” she said. “It had a great environment, great people and great students.”

Malatesta said that during her career, she became infamous for the pink and purple pens she used for corrections — never red — and would spend up to four hours a day during the week correcting and commenting on student work.

“I always tried to give them as many comments as I could and personalize it,” she said. “If it was something good they were doing or something not so good, I think it’s really important to let them know that with as much detail as possible. It’s a good way to connect with your students.”

As her career progressed, she began to focus more on helping her students to become better writers so that, at the time of her retirement, she rarely used true/false questions or any other non-essay tools on her examinations.

She said the emphasis on writing was just one of many evolutions she underwent throughout her time at the high school.

“You have to grow and change as a teacher. I think when I started I was very narrow and restricted. I think it probably takes at least seven years to really become a more creative and better teacher. It’s something that takes a while to perfect — and I’m not saying I’m perfect at all, but you do grow and change your approach.”

Malatesta’s work at the high school went far beyond the scheduled classroom hours.

High School principal Dennis Williams said she spearheaded the summer reading program in the English Department; served as advisor to the student newspaper for 15 years; the National Honor Society for 20 years; and the school yearbook for four years.

Williams noted Malatesta was named a Hatboro-Horsham Champion of Learning twice during her career and was instrumental in the school being honored for its excellence by Redbook magazine in 1996.

While Malatesta said her most valuable triumph during her teaching career was the direct impact she had on the development of students’ writing and reading abilities, she was also proud of some of the school’s organizational achievements during that time.

In the early ’90s, the U.S. Department of Education designated the institution a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, which she called an “emotional highlight” of her career, as was her involvement in the launch of the block-scheduling format.

“I was part of the group that helped introduce the block scheduling back in ’91, and it was really innovative at the time,” she said. “I think it really helped improve the educational picture at the school and made a big difference in energizing both teachers and students.”

Williams was a student at the high school when Malatesta was teaching and, while he did not have her as a teacher, he said her reputation at that time was well known.

“She is a remarkable woman who was highly respected among her colleagues, supervisors and the school community. She was kind, yet firm, and always had the best interests of the whole student in mind," Williams said. "Personally, I am excited to induct Connie into the Hall of Fame because of the respect that I had for her as a student and now as an administrator.”

Since her retirement, Malatesta said she does miss the connection she had with her former students and fellow teachers.

When she started teaching, she lived in Ardmore. But, once she entered the administration, moved into the Hatboro-Horsham area, which she said has been invaluable in helping her maintain her link to the school.

“I see my students and the staff members all the time — at the grocery store, restaurants, everywhere. That’s the really neat part of living here. It’s really fun to get to see these people I taught 20, 30 years ago and see what they’re up to now,” she said. “We always said at the high school that we were family and there really was that sense of all of these people working together toward the same goal, which was helping kids to improve and grow. I honestly loved going to work every day.”

Malatesta said that returning to the school this week for the Hall of Fame induction, where she’ll get to stand beside the adults she taught decades ago, is the ultimate thank you.

“It’s really a great honor to think that the district and the school thought enough of me and my work to honor me like this," Malatesta said. "For me, it’s an acknowledgment of what I tried to do over the years as a teacher and an administrator.”

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