From study halls to walking the halls, Joseph Recine has always been a part of the Tenafly Public Schools community. Mr. Recine is a substitute teacher at Tenafly, but he teaches all throughout Bergen County. Everyone knows the job of a substitute, but what about the story behind a substitute?

Mr. Recine grew up in Bergenfield, New Jersey and attended Bergenfield High School, one of the many schools at which he works. Mr. Recine earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Rowan University. While attending school, he was unsure about what part of psychology he wanted to pursue. After graduating, Mr. Recine decided he wanted to pursue a career as a guidance counselor. “Substitute teaching is a great position that has allowed me to gain exposure to a school environment,” said Mr. Recine, when asked about why he became a substitute teacher.

There were several steps that he had to take before he became a substitute. Substitute teachers are required to have at least an associate degree and obtain a county substitute license. After Mr. Recine received his substitute license, he was able to choose which districts and schools he wanted to teach in. Substitute teaching also allows Mr. Recine to have flexible job hours while he attends graduate school at William Paterson University, where Mr. Recine is obtaining a further degree in school counseling, which will enable him to apply for a guidance counselor position by graduation.

During the spring semester of 2019 at Tenafly, Mr. Recine will start a pre-internship in the Tenafly High School guidance department until the school year ends. The pre-internship requires 100 hours of logged service in the guidance department and will turn into a full-time internship. During the 2019-2020 school year, Mr. Recine hopes to return to the Tenafly High School guidance department to complete his full, graduate internship, which is about 600 hours of service. This internship will require Mr. Recine to work throughout the entire guidance department as well as conduct individual meetings, which will allow him to work directly with students.

Aside from substitute teaching and a blossoming career in school counseling, Mr. Recine enjoys writing in his free time. He writes reviews of new movies and T.V. shows on a website. Mr. Recine reviews many crime T.V. shows, such as Breaking Bad, Dexter, and How to Get Away with Murder. He also regularly attends concerts and enjoys bands such as Disturbed, Maroon 5, and Third Eye Blind.

Mr. Recine has been a long-time substitute in Tenafly, but in the future, students may be seeing more of his face in the guidance department than in the classroom.