"You got me guys!"
It took every student and teacher at Van Sciver Elementary School in Haddon Township, N.J. to pull the wool over the seasoned teacher's eyes.
"I cannot believe that over 300 children and 40 adults kept a secret," said Ceil Rosenzweig. "I had no clue."
After teaching more than 1,500 second graders over the span of four decades and counting, Ceil Rosenzweig, also known as Mrs. R., is retiring.
"She is like the heart of our school. When she leaves, the heartbeat of the school will slow down," Pam Interlante.
Not to spoil the surprise, we pretended we were doing a story on the stalled school budget.
Little did she know the auditorium was decked out in a celebration of the four decades she's been at the head of the class.
"Take me back to 1967 when you first started, I was young, and my plan was to teach for two years," said Mrs. R. "Two turned into 43; plans don't work out."
The school is happy about that. The school officially renamed the library Mrs. R's reading room Friday.
"She gives us lots of love," says 4th grader Cavan Narkiewicz. "She reads us lots of stories like a regular teacher would, but she's just not a regular teacher. She's just really special."
And they celebrated everything that makes her special, from her fashionable ways to her love of lipstick and high heels.
She wears the most incredible high heels all day long, and she teaches in them.
There were lots of laughs, and tons of tears.
"The hardest thing about leaving Van Sciver is leaving all of you, because I love all of you and I will come back to sub, and I expect hugs," said Mrs. R.
And there were plenty of hugs to go around.
"You still have 38 days to see me," says Mrs. R.
And she's counting!
"There's a chain there that we keep cutting off one day at a time," Mrs. R. said.
