05/17/2006
Day hits high note for Tiogue Elementary teacher
By: Jessica Selby , Daily Times

Students and teachers packed the cafeteria at Tiogue Elementary School yesterday morning.
A hum of curiosity buzzed through the room. No one knew why Principal Denise Richtarik had called everyone together for the surprise assembly.
"I know this was an unexpected assembly. That is why I am not going to keep you very long, but I will tell you that we are here for a special reason today," said Richtarik. "We are here to honor one of our own teachers - 'Mr. B.'"
"Mr. B," John Buchanan, is the music education teacher at Tiogue Elementary School. For the past 26 years, he has been teaching children in the Town of Coventry how to hit a note, play musical instruments and enjoy music.
One student, Alexander Plante, a second grader at Tiogue, was so impressed with Mr. B's teaching that he nominated him for the Warwick Sam's Club 2006 Teacher of the Year Award.
"My teacher is great, he takes the time to teach us music in a special way," Plante wrote in his nomination form. "He always goes that extra mile to teach us and make us love music."
Plante was not alone in his feelings about Buchanan. As the announcement was made and Buchanan walked toward the front of the room, the students in the audience cheered, the teachers applauded and an overall sense of approval was expressed by everyone in the room.
Joan Amitrano, a marketing representative from Sam's Club in Warwick, said that, of the more than 50 nomination letters received, her company felt that Buchanan was clearly deserving of this honor.
"It is obvious that this teacher has a genuine love for what he does," Amitrano said. "I have a couple of friends who have children in his classes, so I know firsthand how his students and their parents are so impressed with how he teaches."
Along with the honor Sam's Club bestowed upon him yesterday, Buchanan also received a certificate, a T-shirt and a check for $1,000, which he said he planned on using to purchase keyboards for his students.
"Mrs. Richtarik will vouch for me. It's been 20 years that I have been trying to get a keyboard lab at our school, but we just never had the funding, so this will definitely help us get started," he said.
A typical keyboard lab, which generally consists of approximately 27 keyboards, could cost the school more than $5,000 because, Buchanan said, a basic keyboard costs approximately $200.
Beyond the money that his school received, Buchanan said he was shocked and awed by the unexpected honor bestowed on him.
"This is just unbelievable," he said. "I don't even know what else to say."