Poland schools to honor retiree, teacher

The foundation also will present the school district with a check for $5,000.

STAFF REPORT

POLAND — The Poland Schools Foundation for Educational Excellence will honor a retired insurance executive and a veteran elementary teacher at its recognition banquet Oct. 20 at the Lake Club, formerly Fonderlac Country Club, 1140 Paulin Road.

Robert L. Eich was chosen foundation alumnus of the year, and Linda Watts has been named educator of the year.

The dinner begins at 7 p.m. with a cash bar at 6 p.m. Tickets are $40 ($15 tax-deductible) and are available by contacting Beth Alexoff at (330) 757-2242.

The foundation, an academics booster club, also will present a check for $5,000 to the school board as partial payment of the Stars (Student Achievement Response System) hardware installed in Poland Seminary High School. The foundation has provided more than $100,000 in equipment and services as well as teacher mini-grants to the district.

Eich, a 1953 Poland graduate, took over what is now Eich Bros. Insurance Agency, Boardman, in 1953.

He is a member of the Western Reserve Fire District and was assistant chief of the former Poland Volunteer Fire Department. He has been chairman of the Samuel K. Hine Fund for 36 years and is a former trustee of Forest Lawn Cemetery, a former trustee of the schools foundation, a former trustee and president of the Poland Swim Club and a member of Poland Presbyterian Church, having served as an elder and deacon.

He married Suzanne Dixon, his high school sweetheart, and they have three children and seven grandchildren.

Watts, a 1971 Poland graduate who teaches at Poland Union School, is a National Board Certified teacher and has been named an outstanding teacher. She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Youngstown State University and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling in 1989.

She has served as a mentor to 15 other teachers at Poland and nearby school systems in attaining their national board certification.

Watts says the greatest satisfactions of teaching are twofold: the first “is that breakthrough moment when a child who’s had a lot of difficulty gets it,” and the second is the “outdoor classroom” she helped create in the wooded lot behind Union school.

She and her husband, Dave, have two children.