Pennsbury elementary school teacher Jenn Fumanti sits down with Aaron and Jeff to share the remarkable story of her family's five-generation commitment to teaching in Pennsylvania. From coal stoves to Chromebooks, hear how public education shaped her legacy, and why she's proud to carry the torch today.
Pennsbury elementary school teacher Jenn Fumanti sits down with Aaron and Jeff to share the remarkable story of her family's five-generation commitment to teaching in Pennsylvania. From coal stoves to Chromebooks, hear how public education shaped her legacy, and why she's proud to carry the torch today.
Voiceover (00:02):
Welcome to Duty Free Lunch, the official podcast of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Join us as we unpack the issues that matter most to you from cutting edge classroom strategies to thought provoking policy discussions. If it impacts PSEA members, it's on the menu.
Aaron Chapin (00:23):
Hello and welcome to Duty Free Lunch. I'm PSEA President Aaron Chapin. Joining me today in the studio. It's PSEA Vice President, Jeff Ney. How are you doing, Jeff?
Jeff Ney (00:37):
Wow. That's like a radio voice. I mean, are you going to try out for like a disc jockey when you get done with this?
Aaron Chapin (00:41):
I thought about it.
Jeff Ney (00:42):
That's a great idea.
Aaron Chapin (00:43):
I know back when I was a kid, I didn't really have a lot of friends. I'm shocked.
Jeff Ney (00:49):
A little shocked.
Aaron Chapin (00:49):
Well, and so I would sit in my room and I'd listen to the radio. I always wanted to be a dj.
Jeff Ney (00:55):
It's a great career. Not much anymore. Yeah, not too much now. Well, hey, podcasting could be, maybe I'll host a TV show. Oh, you know what? You'd make a great game show host. Oh my gosh, that'd be
Aaron Chapin (01:07):
Fantastic. Maybe we'll try it out at the House of Delegates and we'll do union history.
Jeff Ney (01:11):
Oh my goodness.
Aaron Chapin (01:13):
Wow. See, I'm a plethora of information and ideas,
Jeff Ney (01:19):
All of it on this podcast.
Aaron Chapin (01:21):
I know you guys are lucky out there
Jeff Ney (01:22):
As if this podcast wasn't great enough. Just with the guest we have now, you got great ideas
Aaron Chapin (01:27):
And she is a fantastic guest. So thanks for reigning me in because today's guest is Jenn Fumanti. She's a fourth generation PSEA member, but she's really a fifth generation educator in Pennsylvania. She's got deep roots in Pennsylvania's public education system. Her family story is really remarkable. That's why we had to have her on Jeff, because when I heard about this right before the election in November, I had said we got to have her run and I forgot. And then I saw her two weeks later, and then I remembered
Jeff Ney (02:00):
That's a lot of forgetting and remembering
Aaron Chapin (02:01):
Well, but she's here now. That's great. Her great-great grandmother, her great-grandmother, her grandmother and her mother were all educators. Many of them were teaching in the same school district. And now Jenn is carrying on the great legacy as an elementary school teacher in the Fantastic Pennsbury School District. It's great to have you on the podcast. Jenn. Welcome.
Jennifer Fumanti (02:25):
Thank you so much for having me today.
Aaron Chapin (02:27):
You bet. It's a shame that your great, great grandmother couldn't hear what you were doing right now. It's pretty amazing. So let's get right into this because we don't hear this kind of story very often. So again, fourth generation, PSEA member, we were digging around in the records, but again, fifth generation educator in Pennsylvania. That's an incredible legacy. So can you just briefly walk us through your family's history and education, starting with your great great grandmother?
Jennifer Fumanti (02:58):
Yes, course I can. So my great great grandmother was Lucy Nixon. She taught for Luzerne County in 19 hundreds until she got married because at that point women couldn't be married and be educators, her daughter-in-law. So my great grandmother, Ida, she was a teacher. Same thing. She started in the 1920s. She got married and then she went back into education in the early fifties after her husband passed away. So she worked in a few different districts and ended up having her daughter teach in the same district as her. So that's my grandmother, Janet. Janet taught from 1962 to 2004. So she taught for 42 years.
Jeff Ney (03:53):
Wow. Yeah, that's a run.
Jennifer Fumanti (03:54):
Oh my goodness. And 41 of those were in first grade. Wow. So
Jeff Ney (04:00):
She's like 82 years in first grade years. Oh goodness.
Jennifer Fumanti (04:04):
And she ended up teaching with her daughter in the same building. So my mother, Brenda, she started from late 1970s until I was born in 1984. And then she went back in 1990 and she just retired last year in 2024. Wow.
Aaron Chapin (04:27):
Oh my goodness. That's quite the history. I mean, I'm the first one in my family, 13 generations in America, first one to ever teach.
Jeff Ney (04:35):
I'm the first educator in my family, but not the last. My niece is coming up right behind me, which actually brings me to my question. Okay, so your great grandmother, your grandmother and your mother, and we're hearing your great, great grandmother all taught in the same district in the Wyoming Valley, I'm sorry, Wyoming Area School District.
Jennifer Fumanti (04:57):
So my great great grandmother we're not really sure where she taught because it was just Luzerne County superintendent of schools. So I guess it was all whole the county. But yes, so my great grandmother. Yeah, my great grandmother, Ida, my grandmother, Janet, and my mother Brenda, did all teach at Wyoming area.
Jeff Ney (05:18):
So Wyoming area, as Jenn said, is up in Luzerne County. It's actually right across the river from my home district in Wilkesboro area, right across the Susquehanna River. And you even graduated from Wyoming area, correct?
Jennifer Fumanti (05:32):
Yes, I did. We kept it in the family there. I graduated from Wyoming area, so did my mother, my grandmother, it was before Wyoming area came together in 1967 is when Wyoming, the schools all came together. So yes, I graduated and all of my cousins, so all of Janet's grandchildren, there was nine of us total. We all graduated from Wyoming area.
Jeff Ney (05:57):
So what's it like growing up with that kind of influence and eventually stepping into the profession yourself? Did you have an option or did you just know, hey, this is the family business now?
Jennifer Fumanti (06:12):
That's a good question. I definitely had options for what I wanted to do. My path to being in education is not a straight linear path. I didn't get into teaching until a few years ago. Actually during COVID is when I got back into elementary education. So there was options. I worked in a lot of different jobs between college and going back into education, but it was always something that I felt like I was drawn to was called to.
Jeff Ney (06:49):
And where did you graduate college from?
Jennifer Fumanti (06:53):
I went to Ms. Cordia
(06:56)
And then I started off as an education major there At the time, it wasn't the right program for me, so I switched to social work and then ended up with a bachelor's of interdisciplinary studies because I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do when I was 2021. And then I ended up going back to school. I went to Kings College. They had a great program, which was a FastTrack program at the time in 2009 I think it was. So anybody that had a bachelor's degree could go back and you worked on your education classes. They were amazing. And it was the best program for me at that time. So I had Kings, I had Miscordia. I always laugh. I want to go back to WIL to get the trifecta of That's
Jeff Ney (07:53):
Right. Wil
Jennifer Fumanti (07:55):
County Colleges there.
Jeff Ney (07:57):
And for those listeners, Miscordia Kings and Wilkes are all three in the Wyoming Valley right there in Luzerne County. And you pretty much can throw a rock and hit each of the campuses. And
Aaron Chapin (08:08):
We often at Wilkes throw rocks at
Jeff Ney (08:11):
Kings. No,
Aaron Chapin (08:13):
You don't. Yes, we do.
Jeff Ney (08:13):
Well, listen, I graduated from both my wife and I graduated from Kings, and we both have our master's degrees from Wilkes, so absolutely. Now, you said when you were describing the connection with everybody, but that both your mother and grandmother were teaching in the same building that you were a student in as well. Now you've taught in the same school as your own children. What's it like being both the teacher and the parent in that same school system and even in the same building?
Jennifer Fumanti (08:45):
That's a great question, and I think it's a fine balance. And my mom, because you are mom, so you want your child, you want to protect your kids, you want to believe everything they say. But you're also a teacher and you are a colleague of the person standing in front of that classroom. So you have to show respect for that as well. And I think that's definitely helped me knowing those boundaries, knowing when it's okay to email a teacher when it's okay to use, alright, I'm mom or colleague. So it's having pretty clear defined boundaries and knowing that that teacher just like you, is trying to do the best they can for your child and just giving them the respect that they deserve.
Jeff Ney (09:45):
And you have daughters
Jennifer Fumanti (09:48):
I do.
Jeff Ney (09:50):
Any chance they're going to go into education?
Jennifer Fumanti (09:53):
Oh, this is a wonderful question. When I told them individually, I have a seventh grader and a third grader that I was doing a podcast and my seventh grader, I said what it was about and I asked, I said, would you like to go into education? She said, yes. I don't necessarily think it would be my influence that would put her into education. She's had Colleen Brobeck, who is our NEA state director. She had an amazing influence on my daughter in sixth grade for English and rela. So that I would love to say it's because of me, but it's probably because of the influences that my daughter's had in Pennsbury with the amazing teachers that she's had.
Aaron Chapin (10:41):
That's great.
Jennifer Fumanti (10:42):
And my youngest, I asked her, so she's in third grade, she would like to be a teacher teacher, but also she told me she wants to be a content creator, so she wants to do YouTube videos. So I told her she could do both.
Aaron Chapin (10:53):
Wow. So your husband was also an educator? NPSE member, and your father-in-law was the superintendent. Wow. The Wyoming area. Oh my gosh. So that's a lot of education leadership in one family. So that really shaped your perspective on teaching and really the school communities.
Jennifer Fumanti (11:16):
I think there's something very special about my story. Everybody's story is special. I think there's something very special about that. The connection that I do feel to education has come from many different places, and I feel like there's that investment when you know this person, that person, there's that investment with the students, with the teachers. So it's just been seeing it from everybody from different time periods and what they've experienced definitely shaped me in a positive way.
Jeff Ney (11:56):
So I mean, Aaron and I have been teaching for the past a hundred years or so, and we know how everything in education has changed so much over the decades. So from your family's stories of what you've grown up hearing, what are some of the biggest shifts that you've noticed in education, whether it's classroom experience to union advocacy or anything there in between?
Jennifer Fumanti (12:20):
So I was asking my mom this question because I'm like, what do you think? What's changed? So from the beginning, from my great great grandmother and great grandmother, they worked in a one room schoolhouse. They had to go and put the coal in the oven to warm up the building. So stuff like that, obviously a little bit different now. We were talking about virtual, that would've never been anything you would think of even maybe 40 years ago. But also my mom was talking about how the collective bargaining,
(12:59)
When my grandmother started in, when she started in 1962, she was making $3,000 a year. So that's changed a lot. But one of the things when my grandmother retired in 2004, she was laughing because she said everything old is new again in education because she was there so long that she had been through so many math reading series, what was old is new again. And we just keep circling around to going back to what works, trying new things, finding what works. So pendulum is swinging, so hopefully we can get the balance in the middle there somewhere.
Jeff Ney (13:46):
That is an absolute truth. I mean, everything becomes cyclical in our curriculum. So speaking of, you are currently participating in ps, e's Learn, engage, and lead program there in the Mid East region. What made you want to get more involved with psca and what have you learned from that experience so far?
Jennifer Fumanti (14:07):
Great question. My job that I have at Pennsbury, I'm there this year as I have, my teacher I work with is our union president, Nicole Pierce. So I always say I'm Nicole's other half. So Nicole works part days because she has half day release. So I'm there in the morning. She's there in the afternoon. So Nicole definitely influenced me to do it. Also, Colleen influenced me as well with my daughter coming home and telling me stories or things she learned from Colleen and learning about her advocacy really made me want to do that. And what I've learned, I've learned a lot. Mostly, I think the biggest thing that I've learned is that there's not just one way to ask. There's not just one way to do things. I'm much more, I value relationships and forming those relationships. And I was like, well, I don't think I could do that and be out front holding signs doing this. But there's more than one way to be an advocate. Sometimes it takes all types of people, and even though I may not be maybe the loudest voice in the room for certain things, I'm definitely listening to what's being said. And I feel like that's an advantage in many different situations.
Aaron Chapin (15:41):
That's great to hear.
Jeff Ney (15:41):
It's always wonderful when the whole team works together like that.
Aaron Chapin (15:44):
And I love hearing given these attributes, these shout outs to Colleen and to Nicole, and they're great union leaders.
Jeff Ney (15:53):
We got a chance to work with Nicole at the last board meeting.
Aaron Chapin (15:57):
Yeah. It's part of what we should be. It's part of our job. We need to be encouraging the next line and next group of people to be coming up. And it sounds like that's going on and they're in the Mideastern region and I think about your family. This long connection for me, it was my grandfather that was the only other person in my family for generations that's ever been part of a union. And so I connected with that aspect. And I know my grandfather was especially proud of his involvement in the union before he passed. I mean, he lived off his pension for almost 40 years and he talked about it all the time and all the instances where the union stepped up for him, he was being unfairly treated by the power company that he worked for. So given your long history in education, what does this union membership really mean to you, Jenn, and why do you think it's such an important part of your family's teaching journey?
Jennifer Fumanti (17:00):
Growing up in Northeast, Jeff, you could probably attest to this. Northeast Pennsylvania had unions. We had coal mines, we had factories aside from just teachers unions that was kind of ingrained in us. My dad was a member of a steel workers union. It means kind of the world to me because growing up in a union household, it protected myself and my sister. We were able to do things that maybe we wouldn't have been able to do if my parents weren't members of the union. It provided funds for things that we were able to do. When I did my induction and the union came to talk us at pennsbury, I was the first one to sign up because I was like, I'm doing this.
Jeff Ney (17:54):
That's right.
Jennifer Fumanti (17:54):
I was so excited to be a part of it because I know how important it's, I've had other working experiences in education where I was at, I was not in a union. So I saw the difference and I was like, I am jumping on board. And I was the first one to sign up for it because it really is important and I hope for my children the same thing, that they understand the protection that it's offering. Because you think as with any child, child, job protection and security at work is going to be security at home.
Voiceover (18:31):
And
Jennifer Fumanti (18:32):
That makes life a lot easier for a lot of people. When mom and dad are secure with their jobs, the kids are going to thrive.
Jeff Ney (18:42):
So true. Yeah. Aaron, similar to you and Jenn, you're a hundred percent right. And northeast PA is just like that. I mean, you don't have to get somebody to come and ask you when you walk into employment and you're like, okay, where do I sign up for the union? That's just what's in great Southwest region of PSEA seems to be very similar to Northeast, probably because of what you said with the coal mining. But my whole family, whether it was the printing guild or the newspaper guild, all of them were involved in the union. So Jenn, yeah, you and I grew up very, very similar, but now let's see what we can do to connect. What do you think your great, great grandmother would say about your journey and the legacy of your family? Do you really think each generation was nudged or pushed to go into education, or do you think it was just something that they made it look like a great profession and you just need to keep this thing going?
Jennifer Fumanti (19:40):
I think my great great grandmother, I would hope she would be proud of her legacy that she didn't even know she was starting at the time. And I'm sure she would be thrilled with the union protections that we enjoy now and that you don't have to leave education when you're pregnant. You have that. And the next part of your question, I think the legacy is definitely important for that.
Aaron Chapin (20:13):
Yeah, I mean, we talk about this with our retirees all the time when we meet with them and they're having their gathering. It's just how there's a lot of us that don't know or forget about what the struggles were back in the sixties and seventies as our great union was really coming to life. But it's so important to remember what educators have had to go through over the years, over the centuries and how far we truly have come. And it's not that long ago. Nope. No, we've come a long way. We've got a long way to go.
Jeff Ney (20:43):
I mean, 1960s, $3,000 starting salary, and now we're asking the governor. He was working on his budget to do a minimum salary of 60,000. I know
Aaron Chapin (20:55):
It's amazing to look at it over time, but Jeff, it's time for a pop quiz.
Jeff Ney (20:59):
Oh, I love the pop quiz time. So Jenn, we've been talking a lot, especially to try to do things to fix our educator pipeline. So what is one piece of advice that you would give a new educator just starting out based on the lessons passed down from your generation to generation to generation and all of the other members of the families? If you could grab that educator and give them some wisdom, what would it be?
Jennifer Fumanti (21:26):
This is a tough one, but to me, I feel that education at its core is about relationships and relationship building, the ones we create with our students, but also the ones we create with our colleagues. Education as we know, it's not always the easiest job. So when we know that there's people who have our backs, that makes it a lot easier. Something else that maybe I have with gift of age and wisdom I would like to say is don't be afraid to ask for help, for help and be authentic in creating those relationships with your colleagues, your students, everybody. And this is one of the best bit of advice which I was given when I was at King. One of my professors, there was a retired teacher. His whole thing was make friends and be authentic with the secretaries, the custodians, the paraprofessionals, because those are the people. Our secretaries are the first line coming into the building. Our custodians are the people you call when it's too cold in your room, when you are a kid, gets sick, whatever. Those are the people you work with make authentic friendships with. And it's all about creating relationships. And when the kids see teachers interacting positively, I feel like you can't go wrong with that. The kids seeing that, modeling that, I feel like that makes the school just a better place.
Jeff Ney (23:08):
Wow, that's awesome. That's great advice. Do you happen to remember the name of that professor,
Jennifer Fumanti (23:13):
Mr. Richards?
Jeff Ney (23:15):
Yep. Fantastic. Thanks Mr. Richards.
Aaron Chapin (23:17):
Yeah, and it's a good way to bring this podcast to a close today. Oh my goodness. Good piece of advice. And our guest today has been Jenn Fumanti. It's been a pleasure having you on this podcast and hearing about your remarkable family history with us. Thank you very much, Jenn, for being here.
Jennifer Fumanti (23:34):
You're welcome. And hopefully maybe in 10 my
Jeff Ney (23:44):
Come to fruition at that point.
Aaron Chapin (23:48):
That would be a great idea. That would be great. This is one of the great things about this podcast is we get to hear stories of our members that we would never ever hear. And so it's an absolute pleasure having you. Thank you very much, Jenn, for sharing your afternoon with us. And thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in. Do you have some feedback for us? Got some questions, comments, need some advice? You got to send it to podcast@psea.org. Maybe you got a great story idea just like this one
Jeff Ney (24:18):
For another podcast.
Aaron Chapin (24:18):
Reach out. We would love to hear your ideas again, no idea is a bad idea, which is also Jeff's motto,
Jeff Ney (24:28):
Words that I live by.
Aaron Chapin (24:29):
Yeah, that's right. Hey, hey everybody. I am Aaron Chapin.
(24:33)
And I'm Jeff Ney.
(24:33)
And you have been listening to Duty Free Lunch. Bye for now.
Voiceover (24:40):
You've been listening to duty Free Lunch with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Visit pse.org/podcast to learn more, and don't forget to subscribe and share paid for by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.