In 31 years of being an educator, a coach or both, Seneca High School health and physical education teacher Francine Siedlecki has been honored with many awards.
The most recent recognition, though, may be the most special.
The school chose Siedlecki as its teacher of the year for the 2015–16 school year.
“Hands down being awarded the teacher of the year by my fellow co-workers makes my commitment to education that much more rewarding. This award is really not about me but rather about all the students that I have been blessed to teach and been able to offer an appreciation for education, our great school system and culture, opportunity, advancement and success,” Siedlecki said.
In years past, the announcement was made at a faculty meeting after school, but not for Siedlecki. The school held an academic pep rally as part of the One Book, One School program on the Monday before holiday break began. Nearing the conclusion of the pep rally, Siedlecki was speaking with another teacher and did not even hear that her name had been called.
“It was a flooring experience, I was frozen. I saw Bradley Bauer (director of athletics) pointing at me telling me that it was me. It was certainly a surprise,” Siedlecki said. “The students were all cheering and were very excited. It was a great experience.”
After substituting at area schools in the early 1980s, Siedlecki took a temporary maternity leave position in 1984 at Shawnee High School where she taught freshman and sophomore physical education along with driver’s education. Shawnee began to grow that fall and needed to hire additional staff, leading to Siedlecki being offered a full-time health and physical education position. She continued instructing and coaching there for the next 19 years, teaching mostly sophomore physical education and driver’s education. While at Shawnee, Siedlecki took over the head tennis coach position in 1986 and the head track coach position in 1988. She continued as the head coach in both sports until she left for Seneca in 2003. Both teams experienced success under Siedlecki, with the track team winning a state championship in 1999.
In the fall of 2003, Siedlecki took her energy and excitement to the Lenape Regional High School District’s newest school, Seneca. The track team was quickly successful, capturing back-to-back state championships in 2009 and 2010. Siedlecki continued to teach and coach at Seneca until she resigned from coaching tennis in 2009 and track in 2011. The atmosphere at the school was one she quickly took to.
“The students are very upbeat and very friendly here. It’s a different atmosphere for sure,” Siedlecki said. “I love coming to work every day.”
Along with her peaceful drive from Berlin through the farms of Shamong and Tabernacle each morning, Siedlecki loves supervising the students as they enter school from the buses each morning, greeting and talking with many as they pass.
And this year, Siedlecki will get to return to another aspect of the job she loves — coaching.
“The current girls’ track coach will be on maternity leave, so I said I would be the interim coach, just for this year. It’ll be fun with a whole different group of kids that I haven’t coached before. They have no idea what they’re in for,” Siedlecki said with a laugh.
