Theresa Quarcelino with her children Lee, president of the Holtville Teachers Association, and Amy, vice president of the Brawley Elementary Teachers Association.
There is perhaps no higher compliment for educators than to have a student go into the teaching profession — unless it is to have their own children follow in their footsteps.
Teachers Association in San Luis Obispo County. Her son Steven, a member of United Teachers Los Angeles, now teaches math, science and technology at Paul Revere Middle School in Brentwood.
“I didn’t encourage Steven to go into teaching, but he grew up attending Political Involvement Committee meetings with me at CTA State Council,” she says.
Those meetings may have influenced him to study political science and work on campaigns for several years. After that and a stint at being a substitute teacher, Steven Bilek was sold on teaching.
All in all, the experience has not only strengthened the teaching bond between mother and son, it has reinforced Gayle’s decision to return to the classroom when her term on the CTA Board ends. “I want to finish my career as a teacher. It’s been my life, and I love what I’m doing,” she says.
Theresa Quarcelino retired a few years ago from a teaching career that spanned 41 years and took her to Arizona, Colorado, the Navajo Nation, and finally California. She is now supervising student teachers in El Centro through San Diego State University.
She is proud of the fact that her two adult children are teachers. Amy Quarcelino is vice president of the Brawley Elementary Teachers Association and is in her 11th year of teaching middle school English. Lee Quarcelino is president of the Holtville Teachers Association and teaches at Pine Elementary School.
Although Lee was influenced by his mother, he says, it was his sixth-grade teacher who prompted him to go into the profession.
Lee tries to pass that along to his own students.
Amy was influenced at an early age when she began “playing school” with her stuffed animals as students.
“My mother would remind me, ‘Don’t forget you have papers to grade.’ She never hid that it was hard,” Amy recalls.