Windsor snow days won’t ever be the same. 

When expected inclement weather is in the forecast, teacher John Leech always gives students his snow day predictions by stating whether or not he is buying bacon for the next day. 

Leech said, “When I first started, I worked with three teachers named Jim Brown, James Carpenter and Frank Heine.  They were (and are) tremendous guys.  Funny, kind, compassionate and darn good teachers.  If it weren’t for them, I doubt that I would’ve lasted for five years in the classroom, yet alone 31.  Anyway, they always celebrated snow days by buying bacon from Herrell’s Market and then frying eggs in the bacon grease.  I seized upon that tradition and have been doing it ever since.  My cholesterol may have gone up, but it’s made me think of them every snow day.  I think it’s worth it.” 

With the year coming close to an end, Windsor is losing some beloved teachers. 

One of those teachers is Leech, who has been at Windsor for parts of the past four decades. Now that he will soon be retired, Leech might have to make a few extra trips to Herrell’s Market. 

“I’ve been at Windsor for 31 years. I started the same year the current high school opened. Thirty of those years have been in the exact same classroom.  So I’ve spent over half of my life in room 131,” Leech said. 

Windsor has changed quite a bit over the past 31 years, but the one thing that has remained constant are the students.  

“The students who attend WHS are by and large great kids.  We graduate a remarkably high percentage who become firefighters, teachers, police officers and nurses.  In other words, students who go into professions that serve the greater good.  I’ve been fortunate to have had such a positive experience for the past three decades,” Leech said. 

Over the years, Leech has coached cross country and track, but he has also had other responsibilities. 

“When I was a very young teacher, my principal at the time, (Mr. Riggs) swung by my room and asked if I wanted two tickets to that evening’s Cardinals game.  I jumped at the opportunity, but was too excited to notice that he didn’t have the tickets with him.  When I stopped by his office after school that afternoon, he handed me the tickets and said, ‘So I’m looking for someone to do Student Council next year’  so I did Student Council for five years (The Cardinals lost, by the way). Another teacher and I started the HS XC team in 2009 because we both saw a need.  The year after that we started the MS XC team.  I’ve been coaching XC ever since.  Sometime after that, I took over the middle school distance program in track before moving to the high school track team. I’m still there,” Leech said. 

On a more bittersweet note, Windsor said he would miss his colleagues.

 “Aside from the students, I work with a bunch of amazing people who are equally amazing in the classroom. People who care about others’ success.  That is a very rare thing in the world today,” Leech said.