As she gaveled Monday’s School Committee meeting to order, Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger turned to Keith Cheveralls, who was attending his last meeting as a member of the committee. “I know you hate this sort of thing,” Redinger said with a grin, “so we will try not to make it too long.”
In honor of Cheveralls’ service as both member and chairman of the School Committee, Superintendent Joe Connelly presented him with a plaque on which was written the same poem Connelly has long kept in his own office: “Children Learn What They Live” by Dorothy Law Nolte. Connelly thanked Cheveralls for his work, calling his time on the committee “six years of stellar achievement.”
Bill Johnson, chairman of the Community Cable Access Committee, thanked Cheveralls for his help getting HCTV its new home in the Bromfield School. Johnson pointed out that Cheveralls had put in hours tiling the floor and painting the new cable studio. In appreciation, Johnson also presented him a plaque—a floor tile to which was glued a photo of Cheveralls, looking dusty and disheveled after a long day of construction work.
In the same spirit, committee member Patty Wenger presented Cheveralls with a small jar of dirt as a memento of the hours he put in helping to build the elementary school playground. She said he had worked “no matter how hot it was,” moving tons of dirt in the process.
Hildreth Elementary third- and fourth-graders sent large farewell cards. Committee member Bob Sullebarger presented him with a plaque from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. And Maureen Babcock, who represents Devens on the committee, gave Mary Ann Cheveralls a bouquet of flowers for her “behind the scenes support.”
Chairwoman Redinger thanked Cheveralls for teaching her “that the chair is the servant of the assembly,” and presented him with a souvenir gavel for his term as chairman.
In response, Cheveralls said he had worked with a very talented group of School Committee members over his two terms. As high points, he cited accepting the invitation of the Student Council to meet with them and hiring interim Superintendent Connelly, whose leadership Cheveralls called an inspiration.
