By Isabel Tabs ’17
Cruising down the hallways, you can always spot the bulky black briefcase swinging attached to that cute old man. He’s my, your and our favorite sub, he’s Albo. Working at West Essex for a whopping 47 years, Don Albanese is a living journey of time here at West Essex.
Today students can typically find Mr. Albanese chilling in the back of the classroom helping a student with math while substituting. But his history with the school dates back to 1968, when Albo started as a math teacher, teaching everything from Algebra I to Pre-Calculus. In September 2002, Albo retired from his full-time teaching job but still wanted to continue working in a classroom environment.
“I come here for the students,” Mr. Albanese said. “It is good to feel like you’re wanted or needed when you get older.”
But Albo’s contributions to the West Essex community go beyond his dedication to educating students. Albo says he considers himself a jack-of-all-trades in terms of his high school careers as a varsity athlete in football, baseball and basketball. Albo wanted to continue working in athletics when he came to West Essex.
In the 1970s, Albo began coaching football for West Essex. He had some of his greatest victories coaching football. “It was exciting when we won the state championship in 1980 for football,” Mr. Albanese said. “The Star Ledger named us the number one team.” Albo coached the boys tennis in the 1970s, took a break and started again in 1996. You can still spot Albo hitting those forward and backhands on the court today.
“Albo is an amazing coach,” sophomore Gillian Wasserman said. “He is patient and we always have fun on the courts with him.”
His work extends beyond being in front of the classroom, since Albo also worked over the summer from 1975-1990 as a maintenance worker. “It was a lot of work,” he said. “I had to clean all the classrooms, scrape the gum off the desks and wax the floors.” It was no easy task considering he had the night shift from 4 p.m. to midnight five times a week.
Albo has some other hidden secrets: He does the scoreboard for ice hockey, basketball and football. He umpired for baseball and he is currently a math tutor for some students.
But past his genius math skills and passion for sports, Albo has the warm hearted side we always see. Twice a month on Fridays, teachers are allowed to wear jeans to school as part of a fund-raising initiative for various charities. One of the charities is the Rett Syndrome Research trust. This charity event for the teacher is inspired by Albo’s granddaughter, Michelle, who has Rett syndrome. Albo and his wife are dedicated to promoting awareness to this disease around the community. In fact, every spring Mrs. Albanese visits Ms. Careri’s Honors Biology classes to discuss Rett syndrome.
“Mrs. Albanese has extensive knowledge of this genetic disease, and has spent many years traveling the globe to Rett conferences. Mrs. Albanese keeps up to date with the latest Rett treatments and research,” Ms. Careri said. “It is an honor to have her come to my class sharing her expertise knowledge in this field.”
Besides all of his extra activities he did and still does around our school, Albo has always had a love for math; and he’s extremely good at it. “I love it when Albo subs for my class,” junior Jessica Thies said. “I always need help with math and he’s the perfect person to ask questions to outside math class.”
Albo is seen every day with one constant fashion accessory: “There’s never a day where you see Albo without his briefcase,” said junior Zoe Stern. “It’s what makes Albo, Albo.” It’s the object that completes his classic look. It’s full of many crossword puzzles, pencils, a calculator and paper.
“I’ve always had a briefcase since the ‘60s,” Albo said. “It’s sorta my desk and has always been since I never had a designated classroom.”
Looking back on his many years of teaching Albo recalls, “I guess I chose the right profession. I was always happy teaching math.”
