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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

Melnik sets sail from 19 years of teaching at PHS

Melnik+sets+sail+from+19+years+of+teaching+at+PHS

Way back in the 80s, physics teacher Glen Melnik walked through the breezeway of PHS. He was new to the school, a substitute at the time, and did not know any of the students well. Then one girl said hi to him as she walked by and a warm feeling came over him. He did not know her name, but that small gesture stuck with him through the countless memories he has gathered in his 19 years of teaching at PHS. 

“I started substituting way back in 1976,” Melnik said. “Then I developed my private tutoring, so I did not want a full time position for about 14 years. But then in 1999, they tricked me into taking over the physics class for a couple weeks and it lasted now for 19 years.”

After attending UC Santa Barbara for undergraduate and Northwestern University for graduate school, Melnik taught social studies in Chicago for two years, he said.

“Then when I came to California, there were no teaching jobs because the war in Vietnam was winding down and people were all going into teaching,” Melnik said. “So I started working in the psychiatric hospital and started private tutoring.”

While his tutoring business grew, Melnik went back to school at UC Berkeley and enrolled in calculus and chemistry classes, to get his teaching credentials in those subjects as well. Melnik has five different teaching credentials overall, he said.

“[Melnik is] somebody who’s just enjoyed education and learning stuff,” said math teacher and long time friend Doyle O’Regan. “He likes teaching and engaging with people. He’s been that way ever since I’ve known him.”

Junior Chloe Tjogas, a current student in Melnik’s class, agreed with O’Regan and said that his abundant stories and life experiences make for a really interesting class, as does his teaching style.

“He lets us work a lot and try to figure out problems as well as helping us along the way,” Tjogas said. “You can tell he really loves his job.”

But, after many years of teaching and tutoring, Melnik said he has decided this school year will be his last.

“I have realized this is the time,” Melnik said. “I’m getting old.”

One reason Melnik has decided to retire is because of the new planned curriculum, Melnik said. The science department must rewrite the physics curriculum in order to meet the Next Generation of Science Standards (NGSS).

“Next year would be the time we would write the physics program with specific worksheets, specific activities, specific labs, to meet these new standards, and I’m thinking, ‘Why should I go through all that time and effort after school to create something that I wouldn’t even be teaching?’” Melnik said.

The second reason for his retirement is the change of feeling in the air around PHS and faculty after the resignation of former history teacher Mark Cowherd, Melnik said.

“There was this cloud that went over the whole faculty,” Melnik said. “There was a depression that hit, like ‘Well shoot, he really became targeted by the community,’ and whether he did something really bad or not, it’s just that fact of how it went down on him really affected teachers.”

The last reason Melnik said he will be leaving is because of his boats.

“I have two boats over in Sausalito, and I would stay on these boats over the weekend,” Melnik said. “I would notice that every Sunday, to come back to the East Bay, and to prepare lesson plans for each week, became harder and harder and I’m thinking, ‘Why can’t I just stay here in Sausalito.’”

O’Regan said that he does not think Melnik will miss coming out to the East Bay every week either, although he does think they will stay in touch no matter what.

“I have not been on his boat,” O’Regan said. “One of these days I’ll get out there. He keeps talking about wanting to live on the boat sailing away to Hawaii, or maybe it’s Mexico. I think he’ll definitely do that live-on-his-boat thing.”

Melnik said he will now have time for things he has been waiting for, like fixing up his boat to sail it down to Mexico.

“I’ll probably spend two years to [fix the boat], so I can sail it down to Mexico, and from Mexico maybe around the world,” Melnik said. “Because once you’re in Mexico you have to decide if you’re going to stay in Mexico or keep sailing south to the Panama Canal and going to the Caribbean. Or going the other way and going towards the South Pacific.”

For the next couple of years, Melnik said he will keep tutoring, but only take on about five students so he can continue teaching and helping others.

“[I learned] from him, it’s just being positive and not giving up on people,” O’Regan said. “He always sees the good in people. That’s probably my biggest take away from him. He’s always positive.”

Although he is leaving, Melnik said he has valued the students and his time at PHS.

“I’ve really appreciated my time here,” Melnik said. “The students have been absolutely great. I love physics so I felt fortunate that I could teach physics.”

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