By DAYNA DRUM | Reporter
Balloons, a piano, singing children and a large poster reading “We love Mr. L” set the scene for students and parents to bid farewell to Marquez Charter Elementary School teacher Jeff Lantos on Wednesday, June 1.
The fifth grade teacher has been teaching for 29 years, including 22 years at Marquez, and is leaving behind a unique and musical legacy.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
Lantos combines the subjects he teaches with music and turns lessons into songs.
He has also created multiple school productions intertwined with music, dancing and history.
The teacher believes that music helps the students retain knowledge better than other methods.
“Any time you can put music in your life, it’s great,” Lantos told the Palisadian-Post.
Lantos’ beliefs are backed up by research done by UCLA professor Jim Stigler. He found that when compared to other students, Lantos’ students retained his teachings at a much higher rate than their counterparts.
His teaching methods are the culmination of a degree in history and musical theater classes in the late ’70s.
His qualities are not lost on his students, and he is easily a favorite among the Marquez fifth graders.
“His method of teaching is unlike any other,” Marquez fifth-grader Elula Shacham told the Post at the goodbye party celebration.
Along with current students, former students, parents and faculty were also in attendance at last week’s celebration to share in some of Lantos’ last Marquez memories.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
When Lantos was hired in 1994, Ruth Mills was on the hiring committee and said she knew right away he was the right man for the job.
“I feel that the most important contribution I made to this school was helping him get hired,” said Mills, who also worked as a teacher’s aide at Marquez for five years.
Both of Mills’ children were his students and have worked with him professionally.
All of Lantos’ musicals are choreographed by her daughter Jeannette.
At his celebration, and after getting numerous hugs and requests for photos, Lantos said the day was “very moving and very gratifying.”
Lantos’ final production of the year, “Water & Power,” closed on Thursday, June 2 with an air of finality in the auditorium.
The musical centered on the Industrial Revolution and the fight for better work conditions for the mill girls in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Regardless of the topic’s serious nature, the upbeat music and sassy choreography left room for nothing but fun.
In the final song, members of the audience streamed to the front to join the cast in dancing and singing.
“I’m going to miss how nice he was,” said fifth-grader Samantha Kissane.
In retirement, Lantos plans to read his ever-growing stack of books and will return to Marquez on a part-time basis to help with the school’s musicals.
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