[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18361]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    IN HONOR OF THE RETIREMENT OF ROBERT WALKER, SUPERINTENDANT OF 
                    KITTATINNY REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SCOTT GARRETT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 10, 2007

  Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I rise in honor of the 
public service of Robert Walker, who has spent the past 40 years in 
proud service to countless New Jersey students as a classroom teacher 
and school administrator.
  A Wisconsin native known for his commitment to his family and his 
famed Harley Davidson motorcycle, Robert Walker leaves behind him a 
real sense of respect from the faculty and students with which he has 
worked. The more than 1,200 students who attend Kittatinny Regional 
have achieved an excellent reputation for being well-behaved, 
appropriately dressed, and safety conscious. They exude Robert Walker's 
sense of pride in their school community.
  Furthermore, Robert Walker's message to students and faculty alike is 
``service above self,'' and it shows. Kittatinny students have traveled 
as far as South Carolina to work with Habitat for Humanity. They've 
raised money for school improvements. And, following the attacks on 
September 11, 2001, they bonded together to donate supplies needed by 
the rescue workers at ground zero, delivered personally by Robert 
Walker and other faculty.
  When Robert Walker graduated from high school, he became a draftsman 
for Union Carbide in Newark. At the urging of a boss, he sought and 
achieved his college degree and took his first teaching job as a 
mechanical drawing teacher at Johnson Regional High School in Clark, 
New Jersey in 1967. The next year, he taught at Sussex County 
Vocational School, later serving as its assistant principal. In 1975, 
he moved to Kittatinny Regional High School, where he has been ever 
since, serving as superintendent for 23 of those years.
  Having followed a somewhat non-traditional path to teaching himself, 
Robert Walker is a strong advocate for alternate-route teachers and has 
hired individuals from a wide variety of industries--from space 
engineers to reporters--to teach at his school. In fact, about a 
quarter of the school faculty are alternate-path teachers.
  On July 1, Robert Walker retired from his lifetime of public service 
as an educator, but I am certain that in the years ahead he will 
continue to teach and lead all those around him, even if only by his 
good example. I commend him for his service to his community.

                          ____________________