Throughout her childhood, Mrs. Valerie Mattessich always enjoyed reading and writing and says she was motivated to do so by her teachers from elementary school to high school. Before graduating from Boston College with a major in English and minor in Spanish, she graduated from Pascack Valley where she returned as a teacher after completing her student teaching in a Boston suburb during her Masters Program. She came back to PV as an English teacher in order to encourage other students to find amusement in English, similar to as she did.

On June 26, after being a teacher for 17 years, Mattessich became the English Department and Art Department Supervisor for the Pascack Valley Regional High School District.

Mrs. Virena Rossi, the previous English supervisor, said that she has decided to step down from this position because she missed teaching. This year, Rossi is teaching freshman english and AP Language and Composition at Pascack Hills where she previously worked for 13 years before becoming the English Department Supervisor in Mahwah. She was the director at Mahwah High School from 2014 to 2016 and acted as the supervisor in the PVRHSD for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years.

Rossi said she taught AP Literature, Film and Literature, Science Fiction and Fantasy (when the course was offered), Seminar in the Humanities (now Language, Myth, and Culture), and Honors English III when she worked at Hills.

Both Rossi and Mattessich had to take a four course, 12 credit program, for a New Jersey State Administrative Certification as a supervisor; therefore, over a two-year time period a few years ago, Mattessich completed an online course from Thomas Edison State College in Trenton for this specific endorsement.

Prior to taking this position, Mattessich taught AP Language and Composition and CP and Honors Language, Myth, and Culture at PV.

“I want them [her students] to go out into the world and be able to communicate clearly and participate as literate citizens in our democracy,” Mattessich said.

To take over her classes, Mattessich chose Ms. Tina Marchiano and Mr. Brett Conrad to teach AP Language and Composition, and a new teacher, Mr. Daniel Phillips, to instruct Language, Myth, and Culture.

“My AP Language classes were taken by teachers here that I felt could handle it [the class] and have done it before to some degree,” Mattessich said. “For my language and mythology classes, I had to hire my own replacement basically to ‘be me’ and fill that spot.”

Mattessich said that she decided to make this change after completing and leading professional development throughout the years and finding enjoyment in working with teachers and adult learners. She feels that she has done everything in the education field and was ready to take on this change.  

“It’s weird starting in the summer because typically you wouldn’t start in the summer [as a teacher], so I don’t know what I’m missing yet because I wouldn’t be with students anyway — this is my down time,” Mattessich said. “A student came in and I just helped her with her college essay and I thought to myself, ‘This is fun.’ I won’t really have that much anymore.”

Supervisors must split their time between PV and PH.  However, to familiarize herself with PH, Mattessich says she will spend more time there in the beginning of the year.

“I truly love what I do,” Mattessich said. “The chance to affect even more students through this new position of Supervisor of Instruction is important and exciting to me for that reason.”