After more than 30 years teaching at Crestwood Middle School, math teacher Havela Drucker will retire this year.
The Crestwood community invites former students, friends and colleagues to join them on Friday, May 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Crestwood media center as they bid Drucker a fond farewell.
Drucker, known affectionately as “Mother D” to students, has been a pillar of the Crestwood and Royal Palm Beach communities since she and her family arrived in 1979.
Drucker began teaching in 1983 and has touched the lives of countless students, teaching them math and important life lessons. She has even taught the children of her former students. In 1989, Drucker was awarded the William T. Dwyer Award for teaching excellence.
After graduating from the University of Buffalo in 1968 with a degree in “pure math,” and no real intention to teach, Drucker thought she might become an actuary or join the Peace Corps. She soon discovered two life-altering themes: accounting bored her, and the love of her life, husband Joel Drucker, wanted to marry her.
They married, and in 1969 moved to Connecticut, where Drucker went into the Teacher Corps making $50 a week, with the promise of a master’s degree in urban education. In 1970, she earned her master’s and was teaching children with “domestic issues.”
Drucker was known for her dedication to students, taking under her wing teens who no one else wanted. They were the soul of her life. To this day, she maintains a strong bond to Donna, one such student.
In 1979, after the birth of their children, the Drucker family came to Florida in hopes of finding suitable education for their son, Matthew, who is disabled.
Their daughter, Mierka, grew up in the Palm Beach County School System and is now an English teacher at Seminole Ridge High School.
Drucker lives and teaches by several important principles. The first is to love what you do. This makes going to work easy, even when it isn’t. She shares her love of this job with her students. Crestwood is truly her home away from home.
Second, she employs the wisdom of her grandmother who told her to “make the worst kid in the class your monitor and everyone else will fall in line.”
For more information about the May 24 gathering, call (561) 753-5000.
ABOVE: Crestwood Middle School math teacher Havela Drucker, shown here with students, will retire after this school year.
Drucker was and always will be one of my favorite teachers!! She definitely motivated me to do my best through high school and I will not forget about her through college. She is a legacy to Crestwood that will live on forever.
Our son, Andrew , was so fortunate to have her as a teacher, she made a difference in his life as a student and later on in his career. Her CMS “kids” went to great high schools and later on to awesome colleges and it was all inititiated by her. God bless her…she will always be in our hearts. See you around Mrs Drucker…Job well done!
Mrs. Drucker has been THE BEST math teacher my son, Noah, has ever had! She works them hard, but it all pays off in the end. She will be sorely missed at CMS – but I wish her well in her retirement.