Substitute teachers are often seen as temporary classroom replacements, but many come to Algonquin with a rich history and far more accomplishments than students may expect.

Administrative assistant Leah Buescher is Algonquin’s substitute coordinator. With over 195 staff members at the school, her job is to manage their absences and create a coverage schedule to keep students’ education flowing smoothly. The school has six consistent substitute teachers and 10 others on standby, who substitute as needed.

After three years of working with these teachers, Buescher has gotten to know the substitutes on a personal level, many of whom have had remarkable previous careers.

“If you speak with [the subs] one-on-one, some of them had a whole life before education,” Buescher said.

Michael St. Peter, a sub who has worked at Algonquin for six years, fits Buescher’s description perfectly. Prior to subbing, he was a journalist who rose quickly through the ranks to become the president and general manager of NBC in Boston until his retirement seven years later. St. Peter enjoyed journalism due to the unpredictability of the job.

“In journalism, you never know what’s going to happen,” St. Peter said. “Every day is different. Every day, you’ve got a different story.” 

As a journalist, St. Peter covered significant national events, including the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Just the enormity of it, the number of deaths during the cleanup of the World Trade Center site and tracking down the suspects, the emotional toll was a lot,” St. Peter said.

A year later, St. Peter covered the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012. As the surviving students were very young, St. Peter faced a difficult ethical situation.

“I’m sort of a purist and I try to [follow] old school ethics and be as objective as possible,” St. Peter said. “So whether or not to use those interviews was the toughest ethical decision.”

Despite criticism from others in the media, St. Peter decided to include the children’s interviews in his reporting. 

“I think ultimately we did the right thing,” St. Peter said. “They were eyewitnesses, and their experiences could help tell that story and live it through their eyes.”

St. Peter’s segment later won a Peabody Award for excellence in journalism, a national honor recognizing outstanding broadcast reporting. 

Another substitute with an extraordinary past is Jean Fedak, and her story is particularly relevant to the school. In addition to coaching basketball, swimming and volleyball at ARHS, Fedak raised more than $300,000 for Algonquin during her 37 years as a Health and Fitness teacher. She worked on nine grants, including one that launched a project in which students completed labs and wrote essays on cardiovascular health.

“I mean, obviously, the kids didn’t want to write the paper,” Fedak said. “Who wants to write a three- to five-page research paper for physical education class?”

Despite the students’ lack of enthusiasm, the project had an impact even greater than Fedak had imagined. 

“This one boy wrote me a note at the bottom of his paper,” Fedak said. “He said, ‘I really didn’t want to write this, but it brought me a lot closer to my grandfather.’”

The boy’s grandfather had suffered a heart attack, so the student decided to interview him for the project.

“He learned a lot more about what his grandfather had endured, and so I was very proud of that project,” Fedak said.

Fedak’s other grants supported initiatives such as hiring Algonquin’s first psychologist to promote student well-being, providing kickboxing equipment for freshman gym classes and creating a smoking cessation class. After retiring, Fedak, who continues to coach the Swim and Dive team, said she still had plenty of energy left and a deep passion for teaching, so she turned to subbing. 

“I know how important it is to have a class teacher in the classroom instead of a lot of classes together in the cafeteria,” Fedak said.

St. Peter also hopes his presence helps students in the classroom.

“The best thing a substitute teacher can do is create an environment where students want to learn and succeed,” St. Peter said.

Together, their experiences reflect the depth of talent and experience often found in substitute teachers. Buescher emphasizes that subs can be underappreciated at times, but they are essential to Algonquin. 

“Our subs make it possible for the school to keep going and the kids to keep learning,” Buescher said. “We wouldn’t be able to go without them.”