Passing the torch: For Westborough couple, teaching is a family business

WORCESTER - Upon retiring, many people talk about passing on the torch to the next generation. For Westborough teachers Edward and Julie Belbin, this is more than just a figure of speech.

The Belbins have made education something of a family business. “We have a really unique situation,” said Edward Belbin, who teaches ninth grade social studies at Westborough High School. When the two of them retire at the end of this school year, Westborough schools will still have one more Belbin in their oldest son, David, who started teaching 11th grade two years ago.

Family tradition

“There are students now who have been taught by three generations of Belbins,” said Julie Belbin, who teaches fifth grade at Mill Pond Elementary. Belbin herself is a third-generation teacher, with her mother and grandmother also having taught in the Westborough school district.

“It’s kind of fun when kids realize it,” said Edward Belbin. “They’re like, ‘Wait a minute, are you married to Mrs. Belbin at Mill Pond?’ ”

Both Belbins began their teaching careers in New Hampshire and moved to Julie Belbin’s hometown of Westborough in 1996, when Edward Belbin started at the high school. Julie Belbin took a break from teaching while their three sons were still young, resuming in Boylston before she also came to Westborough in 2013, returning to the school where she had been a student.

“Even before I started at Boylston and I was just thinking about going back to teaching, I was walking through Mill Pond and I somehow just knew that I was going to come back to teach here,” she said.

Changes in technology, philosophy

As longtime teachers, the Belbins have witnessed changes in how schools operate. “The kids haven’t changed, kids are kids and are fundamentally awesome to work with,” said Edward Belbin. “They want to make sense of the world and we’re there to help them.” What has evolved are both in the tools available to do so and the overall approach to education.

“Education is more student-centered now than when we started,” said Julie Belbin. Students are encouraged to be inquisitive, she said, which in turn means they’re more engaged and invested. “Kids are having discussions and pushing each other to think deeper. I think it’s changed for the better,” she said.

The advent of technology, said Edward Belbin, has opened up new avenues for teachers to connect with students. “The tools and training we have provide advantages that we simply didn’t have in 1990,” he said.

The advances of the information age also come with their own unique challenges. “They have the technology in their hands,” said Julie Belbin, whose class at Mill Pond all have iPads provided by the school. “This is where we’re teaching them how to be socially responsible (with technology) and knowing what’s appropriate.”

“Kids have access to more sources of information and part of our job is helping them navigate it and empower them to discern what is real,” said Edward Belbin. He qualified this statement by adding that “students are more intuitive and more sophisticated than we give them credit for” and the goal is to hone those existing skills when evaluating information. “It’s about asking the right questions - who is the author, what’s the source, is there an agenda?”

COVID crisis

Technology was on the forefront during the COVID-19 pandemic, and all three generations of Belbin teachers had to adjust not only to teaching over Zoom but also doing so over a shared internet connection. “Julie was in one room, I was in another, and our kids were home - all working out of the house and Zooming,” said Edward Belbin. Both of them experienced their fair share of technical difficulties in the form of lag, freeze-ups and service cutouts.

As an elementary school teacher, remote learning put Julie Belbin in a particularly challenging situation. Communicating through a screen made it difficult to not only keep students engaged but also simply build a relationship. “That was the saddest part for me,” she said. “When you see a kid struggling, you can’t walk right up to them and show your support. In elementary school, you create a family each year and (remote learning) can be hard for that.”

Not quite goodbye

At the moment, the Belbins said it just feels like just the start of another summer. “We’re not sure it’s sunk in yet,” said Edward Belbin. “We’re really proud of our careers, we’re passionate about what we do, separating from that comes with some degree of excitement but also some anxiety.”

The two of them intend to stay active in the schools, with Julie tutoring in math and English language arts and Edward continuing his involvement with the hockey program and retaining his position as assistant athletic director.

“It’s about the relationships with the students in front of you,” said Edward Belbin. “You hear all complaints about kids these days but that’s a myth, the kids are fantastic. Watching the intellectual growth take place in kids is the heart of that satisfaction.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Edward and Julie Belbin parents of third generation of family teachers