(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- An Elk Grove Village junior high school science teacher is retiring next week after 55 years at the same the job. It’s a record for Community Consolidated School District 59.
On a Sunday in 1967, 21-year-old John Prusko graduated from college.
The next day, he started a job he never left: teaching eighth grade science at Grove Junior High School.
"If you watched 'Happy Days,' the kids were just like 'Happy Days.' The demeanor, the dress, the concentration on schoolwork as opposed to other kinds of things,” Prusko recalls. “There was no technology. We didn't even have a calculator when I started teaching science."
Prusko, now 77, says he's learned a few things in 55 years as a science teacher.
"I've learned to be patient,” he said.
His advice to a teacher just starting a career is to “be willing to bend.”
"Your way is not always the best way. The kids will tell you which way you should go."
Prusko's last day is June 7. He and his wife have five children and three grandchildren, and Prusko says he's looking forward to time with them.
And he may sign up to be a substitute teacher.
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