I.S. 238 AP Recalled For Sense of Humor, Caring About Students

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane PAIN AMID THE FOND MEMORIES: Mitchell Wiener's widow, Bonnie, and his son, Adam, arrive at the funeral service where the veteran of I.S. 238 was remembered for his impish sense of humor and the time he put in helping struggling students.

Mitchell Wiener was the kind of Assistant Principal who told jokes over the intercom and tried to put a smile on people's faces while constantly making himself available to struggling students at the school he served for 30 years, mourners remembered at his funeral May 20.

Family members, co-workers and students gathered to remember the popular father and educator, doing their best to ignore the tumult over the swine flu virus that led to his death and the closing of dozens of schools in the area.

School Like a Second Home

Mr. Wiener spent his entire career at I.S. 238 in Hollis, Queens, before dying May 17 of complications from swine flu, which he undoubtedly contracted there.

Mr. Wiener joined I.S. 238 as a substitute Teacher in 1978, then worked as a math Teacher for 29 years before becoming an Assistant Principal. Not only did his wife also work at the school as a reading Teacher, but his oldest son Adam put in hours as a substitute as well, making the building a second home for the family.

The 55-year-old contracted the H1N1 virus two weeks ago, spending five days in the hospital before succumbing. His pre-existing medical conditions, including gout, were thought to have increased his vulnerability to the disease.

The service, which was attended by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and Deputy Mayor for Education Dennis Walcott, was kept private, but attendees said that Mr. Wiener's three sons, Adam, Jordan and Farrell, spoke about their father's irrepressible humor and energetic soul, and his lifelong contribution to the school, ignoring the many cameras to concentrate on who their father was as a person.

'The Rock of the School'

The teeming crowd of more than 400 I.S. 238 children and parents at Sinai Chapels in Fresh Meadows, Queens was a testament to his popularity as an educator. Students shared anecdotes of Mr. Wiener's fun-loving nature. "He worked on my floor, he was really special to us," said LaToya Edwards, a sixth-grader. "He used to tell us jokes over the intercom."

Ms. Edwards said he was "the rock of the school," who was always available to any student who needed help. In their eulogies, his sons described how he was a "dedicated father who was just as dedicated to his job."

"He would sing songs over the loudspeaker," remembered Sheba Wajih of Mr. Wiener's intercom pranks. "He'd hold American Idol contests, and once he pretended an alien invasion was happening. . . he'd laugh and smile, he lit up the school."

But Ms. Wajih, a former student who now attends the State University of New York at Stony Brook, said that even though the loss of the Assistant Principal would have a profound effect on the school, she didn't want it to be a negative one. "We should just remember him and be happy that we ever had him," she said. "He was such a happy person, he tried to make everyone else happy. He really deserved a longer life."

'Cared for All Students'

"He cared for all of his students," agreed Janet Banks, a literacy Teacher at I.S. 238, who worked with Mr. Wiener on improving student literacy. "I was a deep admirer of the work that he did."

The politics surrounding the funeral could not be ignored, however. Mr. Wiener's death shocked the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene into closing I.S. 238, along with 30 other schools, an act that some have criticized as coming too late.

Mr. Wiener's wife Bonnie, a reading Teacher at I.S. 238, herself questioned the decision to keep schools open in the New York Times May 15, prior to her husband's death. "I know we have a duty to educate the children of New York, [but] something just doesn't fit right," she said at the time.

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall agreed, telling reporters that all schools in the borough should have been shuttered at least through Memorial Day weekend. "It would give peace of mind to mothers and remove kids from danger," she told reporters. "Going to school, you have a greater chance of getting it than staying home."

Ms. Marshall also offered her condolences to the school and to Mr. Wiener's family. "When you lose a teacher like that, it's a big loss. . . he's shaped the lives of so many," she said.