Teacher Spotlight: Elizabeth Dukeman is an 'all-star' educator

Elizabeth Dukeman wants her first grade students at Locust School in the Garden City school district to feel like a family.

They are encouraged to bring in family photos and talk about family trips, and Dukeman, 47, of Floral Park, said she gets to know her students’ interests and encourages them. Dukeman said she works to create an environment where her students feel respected and supported.

“They need someone to be in their corner,” she said. “Otherwise they get lost.”

Graziella Simonetti’s son was in Dukeman’s class last year. Simonetti said he is passionate about the solar system, so Dukeman invited him to bring his telescope to show classmates. When he broke his foot and had to miss school, Dukeman sent him a set of figurines of the planets.

“It was as if he’d won the lottery,” said Simonetti, who called Dukeman “an all-star.”

Dukeman’s connection to her students doesn’t end when the school year is over.

In August, Dukeman organized a class outing at a local park — complete with snacks and a bubble machine — for her former students and their families. Most of them showed up, Simonetti said.

“She builds a connection with families,” said Eileen Vota, Locust School principal.

That may stem from her having grown up in a large one in Hillside, New Jersey.

Dukeman said she is one of 12 children. Two sisters also became teachers like their father, who taught high school math and social studies.

And Dukeman and her husband, William, a New York City firefighter, have five children. Dukeman credits being a parent with making her a better teacher and being a teacher with making her a better parent.

“You might say I like being around people,” she said.

In October, Dukeman received a Long Island School Hero Award from the Long Island Coalition Against Bullying.

Dukeman bolsters her students’ self-esteem and encourages them to speak up, said Lisa Pasch, a psychologist whose son was in Dukeman’s class last year and who nominated Dukeman for a Long Island School Hero Award.

Dukeman’s compassion also left a large impression on former student Erin Molloy.

Molloy, 25, had Dukeman as a teacher in fourth and fifth grade about 15 years ago. Molloy’s mother died near the end of fourth grade, a loss Molloy didn’t share with her classmates. But Dukeman knew and showed kindness in quiet ways.

Molloy remembers Dukeman giving her a box of Dunkin’ Munchkins. Inside, she’d placed a handwritten note of encouragement.

“It made such a difference,” Molloy said.

Dukeman’s compassion stayed with Molloy, who wrote her college application essay about her.

Molloy went on to become a teacher at South Woods Middle School in Syosset in part because of Dukeman, who she said is “the example of what I want to be as a teacher.”