‘He knew how to connect with every kid.’
By Madelyn McDonald
Community News Service, for the Waterbury Roundabout
For Brookside Primary School’s Chris Costello, teaching never seemed like work – it was always just fun to do. From building a model of the Thatcher Brook in his classroom to creating a “living museum” where students dress up and play historical figures, Costello’s unconventional projects help his students express their creativity.
In the early years of his teaching, Costello called himself an “outlier” as the majority of the teachers at the time were by the book and stuck to a stricter schedule.
‘PIRATE SHIP’
“They ran tight ships, and I kind of started running more of a pirate ship,” Costello said. “We rampaged around and learned as much as we could about things, looking instead of relying on tried-and-true things.”
But now, after an almost four-decade career, Costello plans to retire at the end of the school year.
“Since I was pretty young, I spent a lot of time teaching and working with young kids,” Costello said. “It wasn’t until about three years ago that I felt I had been teaching for a while and realized, wow, 1987 was a long time ago.”
Of his 38 years in the classroom, 34 years have been in Waterbury. One thing that Costello loves about his job is being able to watch his students grow.
At Brookside, Costello is known as a “looping teacher,” meaning he teaches third grade and then fourth grade the next year with the same class.
“Students come in as 8-year-olds and they leave as 10-year-olds,” Costello said. “Being able to watch the amount of growth students have as they start to develop a sense of self and who they are as learners is amazing.”
Former student Eleanor Friedman, 11, shared how Costello’s teaching and encouragement helped her in a particularly funny moment in class.
“One time, instead of addressing him as Mr. Costello, I accidentally called him ‘Daddy,’” Friedman said. “The entire class laughed and I turned super red and was so embarrassed, but Mr. Costello smiled, played it cool, and asked me what I needed.”
Costello grew up in the small town of Campbell Hall, New York. He later attended Lyndon State College (now Vermont State University) and began his career back in New York state, teaching grades 4 and 5 for two years.
He then spent a year as a technology specialist at a magnet school before he and his wife Diana moved to Northfield, Vermont. His first Vermont teaching job was in Barre City, teaching fourth grade for a year before he landed at Waterbury Elementary School in the fall of 1991.
MORE FUN WITH YOUNGER KIDS
Costello recalls that he began his studies thinking he’d teach high school, but switched into an elementary school program instead. He said he thought he could have more fun with younger kids, and in 38 years, he never changed course.
By giving students the freedom and the belief that they can learn, it allowed us to really dive into things and then expand,” he said.
Since the move to Waterbury, Costello managed to work at three schools without ever leaving. That’s because Waterbury’s school has had several name changes over the years – to Thatcher Brook Primary School in the late 1990s, to Brookside Primary School in 2021. Throughout his 34 years at the elementary school on Stowe Street, Costello, who lives in Moretown, has taught mostly grades 3 and 4.
Teaching some of the oldest students at the school offered ample opportunities for adventures. For example, in 2014, Costello’s class took part in researching Waterbury's historical buildings for a local history book written and illustrated by primary school students. And in 2022, he led one cohort all around town on a community scavenger hunt that mixed clues from local history with modern landmarks.
‘CRAZY IDEA’
Costello recalled one “crazy idea” he had to hold a campout on the playground, where students and their parents would create a tent city to build community with each other.
While the original idea never panned out, it grew into an even better opportunity where students, teachers, and parents would actually go camping down by Little River State Park toward the end of the school year.
Costello places an emphasis on the importance of creating relationships not only with his students but with their parents as well, believing that this kind of community building can help a student’s development.
“I think it’s hard to teach students if you don’t see them as people first and build close relationships with them and their parents,” he said. “The parents are equally as important in the whole equation.”
That partnership with parents helped Eleanor Friedman return to school after she was homeschooled for a year, according to her mother, Heather Friedman.
Costello made the transition back to school “seamless” for Eleanor, she said. “I felt that they had an instant connection, and anytime she had an issue, he was there to smooth it over,” she said.
Tommy Young is a fellow teacher and parent who taught with Costello at Brookside Primary School. He highlighted Costello’s patience and kindness as factors of why kids love being around him.
Young remembers how his own daughter, who was in Costello’s class, was “devastated” to leave his classroom because of the “amazing class culture they established.”
‘KNEW HOW TO CONNECT’
Young continued, “Getting a chance to work with him made me a better teacher. He knew how to connect with every kid.”
In his retirement, Costello said he plans to travel with friends, including a canoe trip to Maine in September. His wife has a long list of DIY projects for him to tackle.
Right now, this end of the school year feels like any other, he said. But he expects it to really hit him in the fall.
“June will be easy because I’m saying goodbye to the kids like I always do,” he said.
“But when the goldenrod is out, the sun is shining a certain way, and the buses start running again, it’ll be like ‘wait a minute, I’m not going to be there.’”
