Gib West thrived in the classroom setting – standing in front of a group of questioning young minds eager for more.

Through 35 years in the ConVal School District, while filling a number of different roles, he has spent his days engaging students, having thoughtful conversations and working to better each and every child that he came in contact with. At least that was always the hope.

So understandably, the final two-plus months since schools around the state switched to remote learning for what turned out to be the remainder of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, West has felt a bit outside his comfort zone.

“I believe I’m far more effective when I’m able to have a conversation,” West said. “There’s a lot to be gained by looking someone in the eye. Knowing the right time to talk, when to listen.”

All teachers were met with challenges as classes turned to Zoom and other online platforms to meet with students, hand out assignments and try to somehow replicate that classroom environment. And West will be the first to admit there were hiccups along the way – and understandably so. Because when West first started teaching in the district, remote learning in its current capacity wouldn’t have even been possible.

“[Remote] was an adjective used to explain distance, how one feels,” West said. “It’s been absolutely surreal – there’s no question about that.”

It was certainly not how he envisioned the final year of his educational career would come to a close.

But after three-and-a-half decades leading and educating students at ConVal High School, as well as Antrim Elementary and Great Brook School, West wrapped up his final day of classes last Friday – all from the comforts of his home in Concord.

It was 1980 when West first came to ConVal High School as a student teacher during his studies at New England College. But before he dove head on into the world of education, West went to graduate school with an idea that he wanted to get into social worker. But that pull to be in the classroom was too strong to ignore.

So in 1985, he returned to ConVal, taking a position in the school’s English department and never left the district. For 10 years he taught in the department, also serving as chair, inspiring students through writing and books before the opportunity to become ConVal’s assistant principal arose – a job he just couldn’t pass up. While it was an adjustment to go from the classroom to the administration team, West saw the value of evaluating the educational process from a different perspective.

“You really want to have students feel like you’re there to help them,” he said.

West served in that capacity for 11 years, and while his interactions weren’t always as positive as they were as a teacher, he learned a lot about not only himself, but the role of teachers, parents and students along the journey to a quality education. Then the job as principal at Antrim Elementary and Great Brook came up. And once again it was a chance to further his own education that he had to pursue.

For five years, West, who was nominated for both teacher of the year and assistant principal of the year, led the elementary and middle school in the district’s northernmost town, and was on the committee that selected Jim Elder as his replacement – who is also retiring this year. On a couple of occasions, West did apply for other jobs, as the principal of Kearsarge and Oyster River high schools, but was not selected from the group of finalists. In hindsight, he’s glad those positions didn’t work out.

“I really do believe the district is extraordinary to the extent we go to meet the needs of students. There are just some unbelievable people teaching at ConVal High School and across the district,” West said. “Public education, despite its lack of funding, is the only thing that’s going to keep our culture moving forward.”

Before he left ConVal, West came up with the idea for a Dean of Faculty position. At the time it was merely a tool in his quest to better prepare teachers for their work in the classroom. But when the position was officially added for the 2011-12 school year, West knew it was time to make another switch, so he returned to ConVal to oversee the school’s educators.

“If we were going to help students and teachers be more successful, we had to work with teachers on their strategies,” he said.

But that pull to return to the classroom once again returned.

“I loved writing, teaching writing and talking about books,” West said. “Being with students for me is a real joy – and challenge. I think you always miss the classroom.”

In his final year as Dean of Faculty, West co-taught some classes, but the unexpected retirement of Brian Pickering shifted his role once again, this time becoming principal of the high school. He was prepared for it, having already served in almost every capacity in the school, including the director of school counseling, but it wasn’t the way he wanted to finish out his days in the educational system.

The original plan was to spend three years in the classroom to end his career, but after moving to Concord last year, buying a house six minutes from his oldest son Ian, his wife Emily and their two daughters, Violet and Robbianne, and be closer to his youngest son Robby and his wife Christina and their daughter Hattie in Exeter,, the commute was just too much. So he decided that the 2019-20 school year would be his last at ConVal, and while things didn’t exactly go as he planned, such is life.

In second grade, West was diagnosed with dyslexia and spent a handful of years going to tutors to catch up to others in his grade. He struggled through his years going to school just outside Washington D.C. and even took a year off after an unsuccessful first year at Washington University in Virginia.

“The fact that school was tough for me, I think that does give me a different perspective,” he said. “And I also had some amazing teachers that made a big difference in my life.”

It was the urging of his younger brother Mark that got him to New England College in Henniker, where the wheels for a long career in education started to turn.

“I met some really extraordinary professors at NEC,” West said.

It was also where he met his wife of almost 39 years Jeanie. Turns out they both grew up in the same area and knew some of the same people, but their paths didn’t cross until they both traveled north to New Hampshire.

They first settled in Dublin “in an apartment next to the store,” before moving to an apartment on Vale Street in Peterborough. Some friends had a house on nearby Winter Street and told the Wests there was a house that was coming up for sale.

“We walked up the hill from our apartment on Vale Street and knocked on the door,” West said. And they would go on to live in that very house for 34 years.

“There’s a lot to love about Peterborough,” he said. “I often tell old friends I grew up with how lucky I am to make a life in one place.”

It was not uncommon to see West on his road bike traveling the streets and hills of Peterborough. As someone who likes to be active, it is now his main form of exercise, as his running days are well behind him courtesy of two fake knees.

For West, though, it’s not about how it ended, but the journey to get to the finish line.

The hallways of ConVal High School are filled with memories that West will soon not forget.

He had some of his current colleagues as students and taught many children of fellow educators, both past and present, and countless others from the school’s nine towns.

“In fact, I just had a student finish his high school career in my philosophy class and I taught his dad,” West said.

He watched his two sons go through the school and now it’s time to turn his attention to his three granddaughters with another one on the way.

“That changes things,” West said. “It changes your focus, changes your energy, changes your life.”

The most important things in West’s life have always been his family and his career. With one of those chapters coming to an end, it’s time to put even more of an emphasis on the other.

“Probably not as balanced a life as one may want, but it’s worked for me,” West said.

He’ll miss the ideas and the conversations they lead to, and the questioning of his teachings and the connections that were created.

“That’s why I really wanted to spend my last year with students,” West said.

Being able to create an environment where students shared thoughts and valued each other’s opinions was always the goal.

“When you can make that happen, it’s extraordinary,” he said. “But that’s hard to do.”

He reads a lot, writes poetry and dabbles in water color painting. He’s not sure what will help fill the void created by retirement, but he’s excited to find out.

“I’ll need to do something,” he said. “I feel like I have something to offer.”

He’s not completely closing the door on teaching, but it’s time to take a step back and reflect.

“It’s really a privilege to have taught in the same area for all these years, there’s no question about it,” West said.

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