88 year old steps down after decades on Hammond, BOCES school boards

TOWN OF ROSSIE, N.Y. (WWNY) - When school starts, one St. Lawrence County woman will be watching from the sidelines for the first time in a very long time.

At age 88, Marjorie McCullough is finally starting to take it easy.

“My feeling is that, if I’m going to complain about something, I’d better be ready to step up to the plate,” she said.

Margorie did that for 46 years as a member of the Hammond School Board. First elected in 1974, for her, the school board habit was hard to shake.

“There’s so many kids in Hammond that have so much talent. I just kept staying on,” she said.

After 27 years into that, someone had a suggestion.

“Would you be interested in BOCES,” Marjorie said.

She ran and won, leading to 19 years on the BOCES board.

By the way, Marjorie was also a teacher in the Gouverneur School District for 33 years.

Looking back at all those years in education, she is struck by one thing that has changed - the students themselves.

“The kids today, sometimes I think there’s some good ones and some that just, ‘I don’t care,’” said Marjorie.

She believes that’s a product of home life - more working parents, maybe less time for the kids.

“I know what it’s like to be a working parent and come home. And these little guys, they don’t get read to so much, and they need that,” she said.

This year, Marjorie decided not to run for reelection to the Hammond or BOCES boards.

“Some of the BOCES asked me and I said, ‘If I run again, you’ll be taking me out in a body bag,’” she said.

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