THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2007
Honoring A Teaching Legend
Longtime Maine East Teacher Paul Carlson To Be Granted Emeritus Status By District
By STEFAN SCHUMACHER
Journal Reporter
For only the second time in its 105-year history, Maine Township Dist. 207 has granted Emeritus status to one of its faculty.
Paul Carlson, 72, a graduate of Maine Township High School in 1953, who taught at what is now called Maine East High School for nearly 50 years, is the latest to receive the rare distinction.
The Emeritus title honors longevity, professionalism and contributions to the community. The last person to receive the designation was Alexander Harley, founder of the Tri-M Music Honor Society, which has nearly 5,000 chapters around the world.
Ironically enough, Harley taught Carlson and the two later became friends. Carlson was with him when he died at age 96.
Carlson, in speaking with the Journal & Topics Newspapers on Monday, said he is flattered to have the Emeritus title given his many years serving not only Dist. 207, but also Des Plaines Elementary Dist. 62 at the beginning of his career from 1957-1960. His family's roots in Park Ridge go back to 1911.
"I saw a lot of changes take place," Carlson said, "the students were always good to me. It was a great career and I enjoyed every moment."
That career included creating the first Advanced Placement U.S. History course in the then two Maine high schools at age 25, founding the Park Ridge Historical Society in 1971 and keeping Maine East from being torn down in 1980.
Carlson did not wait long into his career to become active, first with the AP U.S. History course, and then in 1967 when he stopped the Maine Township Board of Education from building an Administration Center in front of Maine East.
"I had just come back from a fishing trip, and I was sitting out on the porch at two in the morning, and I thought, why would they do something like this?" said Carlson, reflecting back. He said an ugly, modern administration building would have ruined the facade of Maine East, which is based in the style of a Catholic Monastery.
"I went to the bank and borrowed money, and put ads in all the local papers," Carlson said. "That brought attention to the community."
The board decided not to build there, and eventually set up the facility next to Maine South. It now is located inside Maine South.
Carlson took a similar tact in 1980, when due to a overestimation of the projected number of students coming to Maine Township, one of the four high schools had to be closed.
When Maine East was proposed, Carlson went back to the bank and bought a full page newspaper ad comparing Maine East to a Rolls Royce and Maine North to a Ford Edsel.
"It was built like a fort," Carlson said of Maine East. He couldn't bare to see its amenities and tradition destroyed.
Again, Carlson won out, and Maine East was saved by one vote on the Board of Education. Maine North was closed down.
With that same eye towards preservation, Carlson founded the Park Ridge Historical Society in 1971.
"We were watching the history of Park Ridge slowly drain out," he said. "Artifacts were being put out by the corner because people were moving to Florida in their old age, and I said it's time to get something started."
Carlson didn't seem to slow down until 1996, when he was forced to leave school for a year due to a disease called Guillian-Barre Syndrome.
The disease, which is similar to Lou Gehrig's or ALS, left him unable to walk, and most people are incapacitated by it for up to five years.
"It destroys the coding on the nerves," Carlson said. "It's like taking the rubber off the toaster cord."
Fortunately, he came out of it remarkably well, returning to school in a year.
Carlson knew he wanted to teach at what is now Maine East since he was 15.
"I was a sophomore, leaning up against the wall, watching my classmates drift by, and I thought, gee, I'm enjoying this high school so much I'm going to come back," said Carlson, who also went on to get Master's degrees in history and psychology.
He finally retired this year at age 72, and his name was put on the Wall of Honor at Maine East in May.
"I taught 15 years longer than most do," he said. "It's time to let others have the enjoyment of the teaching profession."
Still, the idea of retirement hasn't quite set in yet.
"Psychologically I think I'm on an extended summer vacation," Carlson said. "I've gone over there twice, and I get this burning desire to be back in the classroom."
Today he spends considerable time answering questions from media outlets all over the world about Hillary Clinton, who was one of his students.
"I'm a conservative, so I don't agree with her now," he said, but he's taken camera crews from as far away as Tokyo around Park Ridge to show them where Clinton spent her early days.
He's also running a Men's Breakfast Club, aimed at getting men to discuss and become more involved in politics.
Anyone who has spent as much time in one place as Carlson can't leave it far behind.
"I keep in touch with probably 200 old students," Carlson said.
It may sound like a lot of people to stay in contact with, but when you have taught as many as 14,000 students, as Carlson has over his career, it's only a handful.