Dean and History Teacher Mr. Richardson to Retire After Three Decades of Service
Mr. Richardson poses in the deans’ office with photos and mementos. Photo: Francis Lindaman
By ERISA MANI
You’re sitting in the dean’s office staring up at the clock, watching the seconds slowly tick away. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Sweat trickles down your temple as you nervously await what’s on the other side of the door. All of a sudden, it creaks open, shadows emanating from inside — and to your relief, the friendliest face appears in your field of view as Mr. Jason Richardson cracks a smile, making it nearly impossible to not return the favor, and your sense of worry washes away.
At the end of the year, the school will lose Mr. Richardson to retirement, something many in the Midwood community aren’t ready for. “I consider Mr. Richardson to be like another uncle to me,” junior Moriah Isakov said. ”I can always talk to him about whatever I need help with, academically or personally, which I truly appreciate.”
When Mr. Richardson walked through our doors in 1993, Midwood was gifted a valuable global history teacher for 33 years, a wonderful dean for 17, and an extraordinary head dean for over a decade. “Since the beginning of the year I’ve built a bond with him that I wouldn’t be able to reciprocate with any other teacher,” said Shahd Elrashidi ‘27.
Originally starting out his teaching career in Sheepshead Bay High School (also the institution he attended as a teen), Mr. Richardson was scouted by a Midwood AP who came back to report that the school “had to hire this guy.”
Ms. Jennifer Roman-Seidman, a fellow dean, said, “Mr. Richardson is terrific at remembering tiny details about people, which proves that he takes a genuine interest in everyone he meets. We often call him a saint in the deans' office because of his unlimited compassion and patience with everyone he encounters.”
Leaving Sheepshead Bay wasn’t an easy choice, but in the end, “I’m so much happier that I came to Midwood,” he said.
Many might wonder what Mr. Richardson was like in his younger days, and let’s just say, he was definitely having fun. He graduated high school in only three years, along the way getting involved in volleyball, handball, and the football team; he even dated the captain of the cheerleading team.
Back then, students had to mature a lot quicker, he said, because many had part-time or even full-time jobs. If high school wasn’t the best option for you, you dropped out to work instead.
“It wasn’t like we see today where lots of kids are hanging out in school instead of leaving,” he said. “When I went to school, you could hear a pin drop in the halls. Everyone went to class.”
After high school, Mr. Richardson’s next step was Brooklyn College, where he majored in American studies and political science and minored in film studies and psychology.
During this time, he wanted to be a lawyer and had the grades for it, but faced obstacles in life that got in the way. Nonetheless, he said, “I’m very happy with my career and with what I did.”
As he turned toward teaching, he ended up going to graduate school alongside Mr. Richard Franzese, the AP of Safety and Security, who is also retiring at the end of the year.
After entering Midwood as a social studies teacher, Mr. Richardson had to adjust to the duties of being a dean during his first couple of months in that role. He remembers the first few times he had to run the cafeteria by himself. “We had some difficult students then and I was not used to the noise,” he said. “It would sometimes give me a migraine.”
But he soon got the hang of it. “Midwood is Midwood in a lot of ways because of the impact he [Mr. Richardson] has and the dedication he has, especially in creating peace amongst students,” Mr. Franzese said.
Many Hornets credited his teaching style as the main reason they come to his global history class. When Mr. Franzese entered Midwood in 1995, Mr. Richardson had already been established as one of the “rockstar teachers” that everyone loved.
“One of the nicest compliments I would get would be when kids would say, ‘Oh you’re just like Mr. Richardson; you're so cool like Mr. Richardson,’” Mr. Franzese said.
On his first day at Midwood in 2013, dean Mr. Nermin Cecunjanin was approached in room B32A by Mr. Richardson, who offered to help Mr. Cecunjanin whenever he needed it, sharing his opinion on how difficult yet rewarding the teaching profession can be.
“I have never forgotten that moment,” Mr. Cecunjanin said. “I could tell from that day that he was going to be a true friend, and over the years he has become my confidant and role model.”
Besides being a wonderful history teacher, Mr. Richardson is skilled at mediating tensions between students. They’ll wake up one day and hate one another, yet the second they speak to Mr. Richardson, a friendship will begin to bloom.
Cielo Espinal ‘27 said that Mr. Richardson has taught her many things, one being that “nobody should judge others, especially when they are not in the same situation as them,” she said. “Empathy allows you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and to acknowledge that sometimes you will never understand what other people have experienced.”
Junior Elis Ozuk is restricted to eating gluten-free foods, but Mr. Richardson has never made her feel out of place during his famous pizza parties, she said, even buying a gluten-free pizza so she didn’t feel left out. Ozuk said, “He sees his students as individuals that he would like to know better, and that’s what makes him so special.”
“It’ll honestly be a bit different without him because he’s always engaging with students, making a positive environment, and simply bringing fun to school,” said Hazel Rosales ‘27.
After he leaves Midwood, Mr. Richardson hopes to do something part-time while he spends more time with his family, as his wife retired five years ago and has been waiting for this moment to come. Additionally, his daughter, who is close to graduating college and pursuing a career in law, decided to take a gap year so that the family could bond even more.
Mr. Richardson’s story will not end at Midwood’s doors but rather enter a new beginning. He hopes to leave his students with advice he wishes he had known in his late teens and early twenties.
“We all make mistakes and you have to learn from them and change,” he said. He hopes that students will get involved in more extracurricular activities such as internships or outside work because he believes that these things “teach you a lot about life, the value of money, and how to work with people who might have different views than you.”
Finally, he expressed thanks to his bosses and principals past and present for giving him the creative freedom to be the teacher and dean he wanted to be.
“My time at Midwood has been great,” he said. “I’ve been blessed to have met so many great students and to become close to so much of the faculty. Anybody will tell you, don’t become a teacher for the money, but it feels great to know that after 33 years, you have helped some people. Every day, I feel lucky that this is my job.”