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VUHS Co-Principal Receives Honors As Vermont Secondary Principal of the Year

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Tuesday September 13, 2011

By Cookie Steponaitis

For 31 year veteran teacher and administrator Ed Webbley education is a family tradition. Coming from a family divided among teachers, railroad workers, farmers and loggers, there are literally generations of Webbleys that have been in the classroom including a maternal grandmother who taught graded school in Ripton and Hartland, a paternal grandfather who taught Latin, Greek and French at locations as diverse as Lewiston, Maine and Tehran, Iran and aunts that taught history for thirty years at St. Johnsbury Junior High and around another two dozen cousins and aunts who also taught.

Growing up in an environment where education was cherished and highly prized, VUHS co-principal Webbley credits not only family, but key teachers in his own education for fostering a love of learning and turning it into a life long passion and career. He shared the names of many, but commented at length about the role of his junior high French and social studies teacher, Giselle Gaskin and his seventh grade English teacher, Jeanette Mayo who taught him skills and ways to be successful in life. In addition, he gave special mention and thanks to the teachers and coaches at St. Johnsbury Academy. While teaching was not at first his path of choice, all doors and opportunities led him to it and merged his love of learning, coaching and teens into a varied and exciting career.

“Initially, I never wanted to teach,” shared Mr. Webbley. “I was asked to coach wrestling and football at Burlington High School by Bob Murray, my mentor. He was an English teacher, football coach, wrestling coach, and then Assistant Principal. Bob was entirely student oriented. Coaching football and wrestling after UVM dropped the sport of football created a love of coaching/teaching young people that has never dimmed.” While Mr. Webbley has now been at the helm of Vergennes Union High School for seven years and overseen areas of change in leadership models, curriculum, planning and staff development, his career has actually taken him to several venues in Vermont and southern states both as a coach, teacher and administrator. “I taught U.S. History and English as a very young teacher,” explained Mr. Webbley. “I fell permanently in love with the teaching of the English language as I taught the Freshman Classics at St. Johnsbury Academy, AP Literature and Composition, AP Language and Composition, philosophy, American Literature and Composition, and especially, British Literature and Composition at Platte County High School, Burlington High School, Bellows Free Academy of St. Albans, St. Johnsbury Academy, Saint Andrew's School of Boca Raton, VUHS, and the Bread Loaf Young Writer's Conference. I coached football, wrestling, and occasionally track for 25 years, at both the high school and collegiate levels.”

While honored to receive the 2011 Vermont Secondary Principal Award, Webbley was quick to turn the focus to his staff and the changing roles in administration and education that have occurred during his 31 year tenure. “Teaching and learning have transformed from a teacher's activity to a learner's behavior during my 31 years in secondary and higher education,” reflected Mr. Webbley. “Vergennes Union High School has become a student-centered, teacher-guided school over the past seven years. We have become a state-wide leader in transforming student learning to a personally meaningful experience. We have raised the standards regarding what it means to graduate from VUHS. We have transformed VUHS into a force in New England high school programming. Our roles have changed from ‘expert’ to ‘coach’ over this period. The model of coaching remains the center of our profession. And all I am is a coach of my fellow teachers.” The Valley Voice salutes Ed Webbley for his achievements and honors all those who teach not because they can, but because they choose to and see the next generation as America’s greatest treasure and asset.

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