Lake-Lehman Educational Support Staff members honored for decades of service

By Gina Thackara

For Dallas Post

About 50 members of the Lake-Lehman Educational Support Staff gathered Sunday, Nov. 22 in the Irem Temple Country Club to honor their own who have worked in the district for 25 years or more. Shown are some of those who were honored, from left, LouAnn Alters, Nancy Stark, Marilyn Neifert. Behind them is Joe DeCesaris. Not shown in the photo are honorees Mike Spagnuola, Eleanor James and Mary Lou Pierce.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_20151122_132928.jpg.optimal.jpgAbout 50 members of the Lake-Lehman Educational Support Staff gathered Sunday, Nov. 22 in the Irem Temple Country Club to honor their own who have worked in the district for 25 years or more. Shown are some of those who were honored, from left, LouAnn Alters, Nancy Stark, Marilyn Neifert. Behind them is Joe DeCesaris. Not shown in the photo are honorees Mike Spagnuola, Eleanor James and Mary Lou Pierce.

DALLAS TWP. — In late November, people think of giving thanks. And none more than the educational support staff members in the Lake-Lehman School District.

About 50 of their members gathered Sunday, Nov. 22 in the Irem Temple Country Club to have lunch, to spend a little time off together and, most of all, to honor their own who have worked in the district for 25 years or more.

For the seven people being honored, that came to a whopping total of 229 years of school lunches, keeping track of absent students and the excuses they brought in, gum under the desks and snow in the parking lots.

The group holds a banquet annually just to get together, but this is the first year they’ll honor members for years of service, said union president Kyle Yankoski, herself a 16-year veteran para-professional in special education at Lehman-Jackson Elementary School.

Marilyn Neifert, of Loyalville, won the prize for longest tenure after 43 years in the cafeteria at Lake-Noxen Elementary School.

“I came in after the flood,” she said. “And we did it all, chopped vegetables, fixed the meals, everything.”

The best part?

“It’s the kids. I love the kids,” she said. “They’re different now from when I started, but I still like them.”

And in that time, the rules and regulations in schools have changed as well.

“We used to be able to serve a meal and offer a peanut butter sandwich as an alternative,” said Lou Ann Alters, manager in the Lake-Noxen Elementary cafeteria celebrating 31 years there. “Times have changed, though. Now we have to follow the regulations about the amount of sodium, the number of calories, carbs, protein. We have to watch for things like gluten-free diets and food allergies. But we still come up with good food every day.”

It’s not just the food, either.

Joe DeCesaris, of Jackson Township, honored for 33 years on the buildings and grounds crew, said he, his two co-workers and the district’s director of buildings and grounds spent their time making sure there was always a solid building in good repair for teachers and students.

“When the calls come in, we go out,” he said. “And, when the district calls a snow day, we still show up because those parking lots need to be plowed and the sidewalks need cleaning.”

DeCesaris also coached basketball for a time and is now seeing some of his former players returning as teachers in the district. And at 6-feet, 5-inches tall, with a bushy gray beard, he’s a favorite with the littlest of the elementary school crowd.

Three who didn’t make it to the luncheon also were honored in the program. They are school secretaries, Eleanor Jones with 33 years at Lehman-Jackson Elementary School and Mary Lou Pierce, working 27 years in the district’s high school, and Mike Spagnuolo, head custodian in Lake-Noxen Elementary with 28 years of service.

These are people who show up and do what needs to be done to help their schools run smoothly. And they enjoy one extra benefit of their jobs.

“It’s the kids,” said Nancy Stark, who spent 34 years in food service in the Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School Building. “They always expand your horizon, your point of view.”

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