Students are not the only ones moving on at the end of the school term this year. Some of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District’s best teachers are retiring. Among them are wife and husband, Beth Burlingame and Bill Randall. The two, whose classrooms are adjacent, are both seventh-grade teachers at Stone Valley Middle School in Alamo.
Every year Burlingame recounts a story from “Chicken Soup for the Soul” to her seventh-grade class. The family of a young man killed in the Vietnam War found that he had been carrying an old crumpled piece of paper. It was from a classroom exercise years before in which the teacher had asked the students to write something nice about every member of the class. Throughout his life the young man cherished that paper with all of his classmates’ encouraging and kind thoughts. They were there with him even at his untimely death.
Burlingame was so touched by this story, she wanted her students to have a similar piece of paper. She, too, had the students write nice things about each of their classmates so at the end of the activity, every student had a paper with his or her name on top with a list of positive affirmations from classmates.
This simple classroom activity exemplifies Burlingame’s teaching philosophy.
Her 38 years of teaching, 27 of them at Stone Valley, have taught her that being a good teacher is more than just teaching grammar and arithmetic.
“What makes a difference in the course of a lifetime is teaching about the important things in life,” said Burlingame. “Being kind, thinking about important issues, not being a victim of propaganda, and making the world a better place.”
Burlingame earned her teaching certificate and masters degree from UCLA. She taught at high schools for a few years in both the suburbs and inner city of Los Angeles. In 1974 she moved to the Bay Area and began teaching in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, which at the time had limited high school positions. She was hesitant at first to teach middle school, but soon came to love it. She became a six-grade core teacher at Stone Valley and has been there ever since.
Burlingame’s experience at Stone Valley has been a rewarding one. “I’ve loved working with a really great staff who care about kids and I have been very happy in Alamo,” she said. “We’ve had the most incredible parental support for the programs and the kids.”
At Stone Valley, Burlingame taught journalism and drama. As the journalism teacher she ran the school newspaper, the Stone Valley Times. Under her guidance the newspaper won the Gold Crown, the highest distinction, from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. She was also named the district’s Teacher of the Year in 1995.
Burlingame’s philosophy as the drama teacher was to offer acting to everybody. Burlingame put on two productions a year. “No baby stuff,” she said. “They were three-act plays with sets and costumes. I told the kids, ‘We are going to do a high school show.'”
Burlingame’s classroom shared a door with fellow seventh-grade teacher Bill Randall, who had been at Stone Valley two years before Burlingame really got to know him.
“The first two years I hardly ever saw him,” she recalled. “But because we both taught seventh grade we eventually did stuff together.” The two started dating and eventually married. They have been married for 10 years now.
Even though their classrooms are right next to each other, Burlingame has never tired of being with her husband both at work and at home.
“It’s been wonderful. No stress at all,” Burlingame said. Throughout the years they have planned lessons together and created a medieval times day for the students. Burlingame is always the Queen of Spain, and Randall the King of England. Both Burlingame and Randall were honored this year with the PTA’s prestigious Golden Oak award.
Because they share such similar passions, the two have to stop themselves from talking about school all day long. “He says, ‘At 8 p.m., no more talk of the kids,'” said Burlingame.
She had planned to retire this year and her husband realized that work wouldn’t be much fun without her. They arranged it so they could retire concurrently. Between the two of them, they have been teaching for 75 years.
“Children are the hope and promise of the future,” Randall said. “I am proud to have taken part in shaping that promise.”
They plan to spend time with their family. They are expecting their first grandchild at the end of the month. They also plan to travel. Their first trip is to Hawaii and later this fall they hope to drive across country.
These two beloved teachers were sent off with a celebration roast, where colleagues and friends did more commending and toasting than roasting. Their students threw them farewell parties, and Burlingame received a few very special parting gifts from her students.
One student made her a beautiful scrapbook filled with photos and memorabilia. Burlingame also received a silver gummy bear necklace – an homage to her signature classroom reward for a job well done. The last gift was a piece of paper with the name “Mrs. B” at the top. The students had all written nice things about their teacher so she, too, could have some kind and encouraging words to take with her in the next stage in her life.
