After 16 years, French teacher Amy Pitsker will depart Lick-Wilmerding at the end of this school year, beginning a new chapter of her teaching career this fall at the Athenian School, a private high school in Danville, California.
“It’s with some regret but also with some excitement about exploring something new,” Pitsker said of her decision to leave LWHS.
Throughout her career at LWHS, Pitsker has watched firsthand as the school has grown and changed. Nevertheless, she said, her time here has been one of the most consistent parts of her life. “It’s longer than I’ve ever been anywhere,” she said.
Before coming to LWHS in 2003, Pitsker taught French in the University of California system and at University High School. She expressed excitement about the new opportunities Athenian will offer her, and pointed out that many of the school’s core values are similar to those of LWHS, which she said may make the transition easier.
Pitsker is also excited to teach in a different part of the Bay Area. “I’m a city girl right now, but I think I’m a country girl at heart,” she said. “Now I’ll be going out to the country every day for school, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Enrollment in LWHS’s French program has been declining for the past couple of years, leaving it with only two classes, French 3 and French 4 Honors, to be offered next year. For Pitsker, this was untenable. “I need to be working full time,” she said.
But Pitsker’s departure has also caused uncertainty among her current students, many of whom will continue with French next year under a new teacher. “She loves the language and the culture, and she obviously wants to pass her love of French on to her students,” said Adam Spitzler ’21, a student in Pitsker’s French 3 class who said he wasn’t sure a new teacher would be able to replicate Pitsker’s seemingly endless energy.
A new French teacher has already been selected, someone Pitsker described as both “very experienced” and “very local.”
In her classes, Pitsker made a point of emphasizing culture, not just of France but of a variety of Francophone places, including Quebec, Martinique and Morocco. Students watched French-language films, and soft French music played in the background of nearly every class. At the end of each semester, students would sign up to bring in a snack—usually a baguette or a French cheese or dessert—to share with the class. Those enrichments to the curriculum “really sparked my desire to learn French,” Spitzler said.
Since LWHS transitioned to distance learning in mid-March, Pitsker has made a point of frequently checking in with her students, emphasizing repeatedly that their mental health should take priority over school work.
“With virtual learning, she’s definitely been one of the most understanding and empathetic teachers,” said Phoebe Russell ’22, a French 3 student. This was especially true when, in mid-April, Pitsker discovered a racoon sleeping on her apartment’s water heater shortly before her French 3 class was to begin. True to form, she conducted a normal class while an animal control officer worked in the background. (After class that day, she emailed her students a close-up photo of the rather frazzled-looking racoon.)
As she moves on, Pitsker will continue to hold a special place in her heart for LWHS. “My colleagues have become like family to me,” she said. “I’ve grown so much as a teacher, being supported and nurtured by this community. I can’t imagine a greater group of individuals coming together for a larger purpose.”
Her students, too, expressed heartfelt appreciation for her understanding of the many things that make high schoolers stressed on a daily basis. “She’ll put a student’s personal needs before any academic needs,” Russell said.
But most of all, they appreciated her humor. “She’s so entertaining,” Spitzler said. “I’ll miss her goofiness, her exuberant vibe.”
