Industrial Arts teacher Anthony Todaro holds a plaque students made for him after he announced he was retiring.
Bloomfield High School Industrial Arts teacher Anthony Todaro retired at the end of the school year.
A BHS graduate, class of ‘76, he taught for more than 30 years in the district and altogether was a teacher for more than 36 years. Most recently, he was co-advisor to the BHS class of ‘25. Born in Newark, he attended Berkeley Elementary School and South Junior Middle School. His teaching certification is from Montclair State College, now a university.
Several years after graduating BHS, he unexpectedly became his alma mater’s woodshop teacher because of the sudden death of his predecessor and a chance interview. But he left after a few years to attend Cook College, the agricultural school at Rutgers University, to become a landscape architect. But he eventually realized he wanted to be a teacher and has had several stints as a teacher. He confessed he really wanted to be a graphics arts teacher.
“I was out of teaching for eight years and built new homes,” he said. “I was self-employed, a speculative builder. I’d buy a lot and build on it which I still do.”
He went back to teaching, at Burnett Middle School, in Union, and taught at Cedar Grove High School.
“I worked there for a year, but all along I kept track of what was going on at Bloomfield High School,” he said. “This position opened up in the spring of 2000 and
I’ve been back since that fall. The best move I ever made. It’s a great place to work and I like being part of the community. I’m an alumnus. That makes it special.”
A few years earlier, in the fall of ‘97, Todaro started a woodshop night class at Bloomfield Middle School. It was an enrichment program funded by the BMS Home and School Association.
“The superintendent asked me if I wanted to start the Bloomfield Community School,” he said.
He did, but the community school ended about 2003, according to Todaro, when the high school building was being enlarged.
He was a member of the Foley Field Foundation, a nonprofit fundraiser, for 15 years.
“We did a lot,” he said.
Todaro was also president, for 14 years, of the Bloomfield Babe Ruth League, overseeing the construction of the field house at Wright’s Field.
“I get a lot of people to donate money,” he admitted, adding that his efforts helped to construct the dugouts and install a scoreboard at Memorial Park.
The BHS class of ‘20 also benefitted from the “Todaro Touch.”
“We raised the most money for a senior class,” he said. “It paid for the reunion, the new benches outside the high school and the caps and gowns for the seniors.
They didn’t have to pay for anything. But it’s nice being advisor because you get to see the kids grow. I have had students that come back to thank me. They’ve become electricians, union carpenters — that gives me a lot of satisfaction. All the kids are good. You just have to know how to handle them. You can’t treat everybody the same. You don’t know what’s going on at home. Sometimes you wish you could look into them.”
He was retiring now, he said, because it was time.
“My wife will be retired this June,” he said. “It’s time for us to do something.”
His wife, Mary, retired as principal of Demarest Elementary School.
Todaro may substitute teach, even in the district, but not for six months because of contract restrictions.
“I want to keep busy,” he said. “I might do YouTube videos — shop classes for kids,” he said.
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