You Did Good, Mr. P

At the front of three rows of chairs, at the center of the school library, Mr. P was wincing. He folded his hands and crossed his legs.

Coworkers past and present had lured him to the school library to let him know what a difference he has made in the lives of New Haven’s young people — before it was too late to tell him.

In a surprise ceremony Wednesday, Mr. P — veteran teacher Jack Paulishen — finally received the recognition that he has dodged during nearly two decades working at James Hillhouse High School. In that time has has inspired future politicians (including a sitting U.S. Congresswoman) with civics lessons, sent classes off to top colleges, and taken one student in as part of his own family.

Paulishen is currently battling a deadly disease. He’s been diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma, which means the cancer has spread throughout the rest of his body.

“I used to watch Batman, Superman and Spiderman, and I loved how they were so unassuming. They were in a cape or swinging through the air one moment, then the next moment you see Clark Kent, Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne going on through their lives, no one knowing what they’ve done,” said Kermit Carolina, Hillhouse’s former principal and now a school district administrator.

“I think about Jack Paulishen that way. We don’t see the work he does behind the scenes, but I think of this as an opportunity to bring that work to life.”

The surprise ceremony took place Wednesday afternoon, bringing together his fellow teachers, former students and a few cigar-smoking buddies from his Westville neighborhood.

The crew even managed to bring his wife, Michelle Paulishen, a teacher at Edgewood Magnet School, to the ceremony by tricking her into thinking she was in for an afternoon of professional development.

Every Tuesday, Paulishen heads to Yale-New Haven Hospital for experimental treatments. But during the rest of the week, he’s still at the front of AP Government classes at Hillhouse.

“I’ve never had a day I didn’t want to go to work,” Paulishen said.

Paulishen has taught civics and government at Hillhouse since 2002. His classes are known for their guest authors, lawyers and politicos, as well as for their field trips to New York and Washington, D.C.

Upper Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen, Jr., choked up as he recalled how the Paulishen’s classes had inspired him to run for office.

“I call him a man of miracles,” Brackeen said. ​“He’s watched many transitions in my life. I’m sure he didn’t think that the kid in the classroom who stirred the pot about politics in our first civics class would be elected as the first black and youngest alder in my ward. If it wasn’t for seeing our nation’s capital with such a great teacher, I don’t think politics would have been first and foremost in my family.”

Outside of his lessons, Paulishen also mentored new teachers, prepped students to persist through college, coached Marshall-Brennan Moot Court and Model United Nations, oversaw the production of the yearbook and took countless pictures of school events. He also set up a scholarship program at his alma mater, Fairfield University, for Hillhouse students.

And in one case, after a Hillhouse student’s family became homeless, the Paulishens took her in and became her surrogate parents.

That student, Toddchelle Young, grew up in the Brookside housing projects. She eventually left Hillhouse as the valedictorian. She graduated from Georgetown University, finished a master’s program at Columbia University, and is now back at Georgetown.

Beyond school, Paulishen also served on the Ward 25 Democratic Committee and the New Haven Democracy Fund, while supporting a number of non-profits including Marycare, Lifehaven and Columbus House. He’s also a regular church-goer at Saints Aedan and Brendan Parish.

Top Secret Prep

The celebration held for Paulishen on Wednesday was planned in secret over the past month — with a number of surprises.

Carolina, the school district’s supervisor of family and community engagement, and John Nguyen, Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School’s assistant principal, both timed it to coincide with the citywide speech and debate tournament, which ended with a mock trial about students’ right to organize an off-site protest about school shootings.

They tipped off Paulishen about the first surprise. Donors had already contributed $8,000 in his name to the New Haven Scholarship Fund, putting him just $2,000 away from an endowed scholarship that will go to a local student each year.

At the event, they told Paulishen that even more was in store. At one point, Nguyen queued up a video message from newly elected U.S. Rep. Jahanna Hayes, a former Teacher of the Year who taught at Hillhouse for several years. She said she’d learned from watching Paulishen at work.

“You were the standard at Hillhouse. I tried to live up to you and what you do,” Hayes said in the clip. ​“This new job repping the people of Connecticut is really what you’re all about, making sure that all communities have access and equity for our kids.”

Nguyen also told Paulishen that his name would be a permanent fixture at Hillhouse, as they’d be dedicating the library’s multimedia room in his name. After the ceremony, Paulishen’s fans toured the lab, which had been decorated with laminated prints of his pictures from over the years.

Paulishen said he was ​“totally surprised” and ​“absolutely overwhelmed” to hear from his friends. Despite his diagnosis, he said he feels ​“incredibly lucky” for the life he’s lived.

“I’ve been able to go through this self-realization, looking at my life, what I’ve done and what I want to do with the time I have left,” Paulishen said. ​“I’m really very lucky I ended up here with these kids.”

Paulishen left the crowd with a piece of advice that he’d learned from his two decades on the job. ​“Err on the side of kindness,” he said. ​“Even if it ends up being the wrong decision and even if you’re occasionally made to look like the fool, almost all the time it’ll be the right thing to do.”

Click here to donate money to the New Haven Scholarship Fund in Paulishen’s honor; designate the donation in the notes section for Jack Paulishen Scholarship.