[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 76 (Thursday, June 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1133-E1134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO CATHERINE M. MARINO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARGE ROUKEMA

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 5, 1997

  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of a highly 
respected, singularly effective, and most popular educator, Catherine 
M. Marino. Cathy Marino is retiring this June as principal of the 
Henrietta Hawes Elementary School in Ridgewood, NJ, after a long and 
distinguished career as a highly respected and beloved teacher, 
spanning three decades.
  Cathy Marino, one of my closest and dearest personal friends, is a 
dedicated and caring educator who has committed her life to helping 
young people and truly has the best interests of children at heart. She 
has been in the forefront of innovation and progress, improving the 
standards of public education at every turn. As a former teacher 
myself, I can tell you she has always put the individualized social and 
educational needs of each student first. She has been at the cutting 
edge of educational innovation and is truly ``a teacher for all 
seasons.'' She always put children first.
  Cathy's career began as a teacher of mentally retarded children at 
Travis Air Force Base in California, immediately after her graduation 
from Russell Sage College in Troy, NY, with a bachelor's degree in 
elementary education. She later worked with blind, deaf, and physically 
handicapped children in Colorado before returning to the East Coast in 
1970, as a special education teacher in Saratoga, NY.
  Cathy came to New Jersey in 1972, as a resource room teacher at 
Tenakill Elementary School in Closter. She served at Tenafly Middle 
School as a special education teacher before joining the Ridgewood 
school system in 1974, as a first grade teacher at Hawes Elementary.
  Cathy taught first grade until 1977, when she switched to 
kindergarten and split her time between the Hawes, Glen, and Willard 
elementary schools. In September 1996, she returned to Hawes Elementary 
School as principal.
  As principal, Cathy has been responsible for supervision of planning, 
development implementation, and evaluation of all school programs and 
activities under a site-based management structure. She supervised 42 
certificated and 8 non-certificated staff members, provided leadership 
for staff development and community relations, prepared and implemented 
budgets, led efforts to accomplish school and district goals, and 
supervised monitoring of students' social, emotional, and academic 
progress.
  In addition, she has worked as an adjunct professor at William 
Paterson College and as a consultant on educational videos for young 
children.
  Cathy's commitment cannot be fully conveyed by her employment history 
alone, however. To begin with, she believes strongly that learning 
never ends and has constantly worked to extend her own education. In 
addition to her bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from 
Russell Sage College, she

[[Page E1134]]

holds a master's degree in learning disabilities from Fairleigh 
Dickinson University, where she graduated summa cum laude. She has 
taken graduate courses at William Paterson College, Syracuse 
University, the University of Auckland and Adelphia University. She has 
attended lectures, workshops and other special programs at Harvard and 
Yale universities.
  Recognizing the need to prepare others to carry on after her 
retirement, Cathy has been active in sharing her knowledge with fellow 
and future educators through a variety of forums. For more than a dozen 
years, she has served on panels at the annual Renaissance Weekend 
Program in Hilton Head, SC, including the landmark ``A Nation at Risk'' 
panel with president Clinton. She has spoken at Columbia University, 
the State University of New York, and before the New Jersey 
Kindergarten Teachers Association, to name a few. She has led countless 
staff development programs in the Ridgewood school system and in other 
school systems as well. She is the author of The Wonderful World of 
Kindergarten: A Handbook for Parents and Connections, Problem Solving 
and Thinking Skills for Young Children.
  Cathy has been the recipient of a large number of awards and honors, 
including the Governor's Award for Outstanding Teachers. She was chosen 
as a member of the President's National Teachers Advisory Council 
during the Reagan administration.
  Throughout her years of innovative teaching, Cathy was always looking 
ahead to keep education contemporary and relevant to the current needs 
of families and the community--she was a true pioneer.
  Recognizing the changing responsibilities that challenged working 
families and putting her knowledge of the developmental needs of 
children to use, Cathy in 1982 founded New Jersey's first child care 
program for infants and toddlers. In partnership with Valley Hospital, 
this school-based program was open to workers in the local community. 
Cathy staffed the facility with highly qualified personnel trained to 
serve the needs of children from the earliest months of life. This was 
not merely ``custodial'' child care. This was an early childhood 
education center before most communities were aware of these 
innovational needs and long before the Federal Government adopted Early 
Start as an adjunct to the much-heralded and well-established Head 
Start.
  Recently, extensive documentation has been advanced by the National 
Institute of Mental Health and other research centers that proves the 
importance of proper care and development during early childhood. 
Proper nurturing during the first few months can improve IQ and 
academic performance later, for example. Positive playtime activities 
lead to an improved ability to make friends and function socially as an 
adult.
  So you can see why I call Cathy not only a role model for American 
educators but ``an educator for all seasons.''
  Cathy and her husband, Ben, make their home in Ridgewood. They have a 
loving and close-knit family that includes their children, Michael, 
Christopher, and Stephen, and grandchildren, Mitchell and Katherine.
  Members of the Ridgewood school system staff, members of the 
community and countless former students and their parents all have fond 
memories and are deeply indebted to the dedication of this outstanding 
educator. I wish her much-deserved health and happiness in her 
retirement. But, knowing Cathy's inquiring mind and sense of dedication 
to children, I doubt that this will be a true retirement. I am certain 
she will continue to find ways to serve children and make our world a 
better place for all.

                          ____________________