Bethel Superintendent Dr. Gary Chesley to Retire

The following is a e-mail sent out Friday morning from Bethel Superintendent Dr. Gary Chesley. In it, he announces his plans to retire after nearly 13 years.

Being the Superintendent of the Bethel Schools has been the great challenge and the great joy of my professional life. Arriving here in 1998, I found a dispirited group of professional educators who felt they’d been kicked around by the politics of the community.  But these teachers and administrators truly believed in a better day.  I learned quickly that they have genuine affection for their students and colleagues.  They willingly work long hours, they ask more of themselves, and they take great pride in their colleagues.  Those qualities proved to be the foundation for greatness. 

That day in September of 1998, they placed their faith in me when I said, “Don’t worry that the horse is blind; just keep loading the wagon.”  I am immensely proud that this faculty has believed in me and our team of exceptional school leaders.  For the past dozen years, we have been fortunate to be faced with many obstacles.  These challenges served to make us more resolute in our beliefs, more far-sighted in our planning, and more appreciative of those who supported our efforts.  

I was able to dream big about what the Bethel Schools might become because I knew that our great teachers could make that vision come true.  Step-by-step, we built a strong, united, caring, and dynamic school community.  We developed excellent academic programs that launched our graduates to their dreams.  We improved our school buildings and made them safe places to learn.  We met the challenge of bringing in new teachers, nurturing them as part of our community, making them leaders, watching them grow.  We learned together, we raised expectations, we excelled.

It has been profoundly satisfying to watch as we took on one challenge after another and became the better with each. But the real joy in this Bethel experience has been watching our seniors cross the stage with diploma in hand, confident that they were prepared to tackle life.  The real joy has been to watch the young teachers we hired find confidence and wisdom and then become an inspiration to their students.  The real joy has been to watch the life-long Bethel teachers take genuine pride in our accomplishments and to see that smile of satisfaction that says our fortitude has made us something very special.  The real joy has been to work side-by-side with those wise and courageous civic leaders who truly do have ‘Bethel in the belly’ and have given me their friendship and good counsel.

That truly better day we sought in September 1998 has been realized.  We can take genuine pride in what we have become.  But now there is a new day.  I believe that the demands of this superintendency have outstripped my ability to respond.  It is time for me to climb a new mountain.

Tonight, I am announcing to my teaching colleagues, to our exceptional leadership team, and to the Board of Education my intention to retire from the Bethel Public School.  I will work with the Board of Education through a period of transition in a way that will ensure a continuation of our principles and vision.  We must not and will not step back from our progress. 

Peter Drucker, perhaps the world’s foremost management scholar, once said, “The test of a leader is not what he or she accomplishes.  It is what happens when they leave.”  I am proud of the legacy I leave behind.  That legacy is our staff!  I know that they will make me proud!  Thank you for all that you have done for me.  God bless you all.

Gary M. Chesley, Ed.D.
Superintendent fo Schools