There was some roasting and lots of toasting at Les Loomis’ retirement celebration at the Normanside Country Club.
Dozens of friends, family and colleagues both past and present came together on the evening of Friday, May 30, to reflect on Loomis’ 21 years as the superintendent of Bethlehem Central Schools.
Many speakers talked about the positive impact the long-time superintendent has had on the community and about his legacy as the district’s leader. Others couldn’t pass up the chance to get in some final ribbing at the expense of their boss and mentor.
Dave Rounds, a Bethlehem High School teacher and Bethlehem Central Teacher’s Association president, was the first to really needle Loomis as he showed the audience a tiny, 4-inch square booklet that he said comprised all the things Loomis had done to motivate the teachers in education over the past 20 years.
To a lighthearted round of laughter, Rounds continued, pulling out several large stacks of computer paper containing what said were e-mailed responses from teachers and administrators of their humorous accounts of working with Loomis.
He proceeded to read one of the fictitious e-mails to the audience.
Dear Dave, thank you for the opportunity to share my experiences do you remember when he hired Les? Rounds read. `I do. I was on the hiring committee, and I specifically remember a young Dr. Loomis and his resume at Bethehem. I have attached it for your review and to share with others his first resume.`
Rounds held up a small stone tablet to the crowd roaring in laughter and said, `If you can’t read hieroglyphics, it simply says, ‘I’m Les Loomis. I graduated from Harvard. Please hire me.’`
All kidding aside, there was no shortage of praise for Loomis and his family over what was described by many as a distinguished career and a legacy of leadership.
Included in the audience were several of the town’s most prominent politicians such as Albany County Executive Michael Breslin; state Sen. Neil Breslin; Assemblyman Tim Gordon; and Supervisor Jack Cunningham.
All came to the event toting proclamations for Loomis.
`I represent 13 different school districts, and no one knew the issues or the intricacies of funding and how do you deal with the school district better than Les,` Breslin told the crowd. `And he was always on top of his game. Les knew the issues, knew how to get to the issues, knew how to interact with the Legislature and Les was the best at it.`
Gordon spoke next.
`This is truly a great celebration,` Gordon said. `Ten years from now, Bethlehem Central graduates who have been touched by Dr. Loomis, they themselves will have multiplied that gift in so many ways, and that’s just so great.`
Gordon thanked Loomis for being a trusted resource during his first term in the state Assembly and gave him a New York state proclamation from the Assembly acknowledging his years of service to the community.
`You know, maybe he’ll come back and visit us,` Gordon joked, `although he didn’t exactly indicate that.`
Cunningham thanked Loomis next for his long years of community service.
`I think we all know many of the accomplishments that Dr. Loomis has had during his tenure as superintendent,` Cunningham said. `Les has worked very hard and brought many of us kicking and screaming to the polls to vote for budgets and to vote for bond issues, but they were the right thing to do for our community and the right thing to do for our students; they were investments in our future, and we have Dr. Loomis to thank for that.`
Diane Reagan, new principal of Eagle Elementary, played a video montage put to music that showed pictures of a much younger Loomis with his family. Photos faded to black and white as written messages from people around the community scrolled across the screen.
`I have to admit I’m a little disappointed because after I heard ‘vignette,’ I thought we were doing wine sampling,` Rounds joked after seeing the montage. `And after seeing the photos of a shirtless Les, I was praying to God that we were doing shots of everything the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms has banned for the last five years.`
The man replacing Loomis as the district’s superintendent, Michael Tebbano, also spoke during the event, joking that `As the president of the assistant superintendents that have worked with you over the years we have a lot of stories to tell about you, but not while you’re here.`
`You are the dynamic manager, that inspiring leader, you started an entire movement of continuous improvement,` Tebbano said. `You have moved the district forward to be better, to develop stronger, and taught us to confront our future head-on in a collaborative way.`
Lynne L. Lenhardt, a Bethlehem board of education member since 1988, was very instrumental in arranging and putting together Loomis’s party. After recognizing some of the original board members who voted to hire Loomis, she thanked the countless people in attendance.
`I want thank everyone for all of these kind words thanks to all of you for attending,` Lenhardt said. `This is wonderful. Certainly Les really deserves all of this.` “