Wolf Lake Elementary School teacher and four-time school-level Teacher of the Year Mary Block is set to retire at the close of the academic year, concluding a career spanning 37 years. 

“What I’m going to miss the most, I think, is just being with the kids,” Block said. “I absolutely love being with them, and even to sit in a room and hear them talk amongst each other. I just think it’s so cute to hear the things that they talk about.”

Block began teaching for Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) in 1989 after graduating from Florida State University with an elementary education degree. Between her 19 years at Apopka Elementary School and 18 at Wolf Lake, she has served in various roles, including substitute teacher, curriculum resource teacher and reading facilitator. She currently teaches fifth grade English Language Arts (ELA). 

“When I first started teaching, I loved teaching third grade, but when I got into fifth grade — I don’t think I could teach any other grade besides fifth grade. I love the independence of the kids,” Block said. “They get my sense of humor; I get their sense of humor. We have fun, but they also are old enough to know when the fun stops and learning has to take place.” 

Apopka resident April Ware studied in Block’s first third-grade class in 1989 at Apopka Elementary School, making her Block’s “first child,” as she puts it. 

“I was in her very first class, and I fell in love with her,” Ware said. “I knew how much she cared about me, and I watched how she cares so much about all of her students.”

Ware said Block and her husband would spend time with her outside of class, which helped Ware as she grew up in a single-parent home. Although Ware would lose touch with Block as she graduated and moved to college, she eventually reunited with her as a colleague at Wolf Lake. 

“I’ve transitioned out of the classroom — I work in education elsewhere — and my very last year of teaching, I was moved to fifth grade, and I was partnered with her. It makes me emotional,” Ware said. “She was the reading teacher, and I was the math and science teacher, so we taught the same students, and I got to end my teaching career teaching with the woman who taught me.” 

Block would also teach Ware’s son when he was in fifth grade. 

“He loves her, too, of course,” Ware said. “If you ask most kids, they’re going to tell you, ‘My favorite teacher is Mrs. Block.’ She just leaves that kind of impression on all of them.” 

Block’s coworker and best friend of over 30 years, Yvonne Hodges-Cleare, attributes Block’s success to her attitude of self-sacrifice. 

“She would come in on Saturday mornings and just teach children, kids who were behind, when state testing was coming up,” Hodges-Cleare said. “We’d do this for about eight weeks, and it was unpaid, and she’d buy the kids snacks… She’s probably spent so many thousands of dollars throughout the 37 years in buying them whatever motivates them.” 

According to Hodges-Cleare, Block “never complained” at work and that “she was always here [at work],” even when she underwent “four years of horrible pain” due to a then-undiagnosed autoimmune disease or when she arrived at school in crutches after breaking her toes.  

“She has the strongest spirit of anybody I know,” Hodges-Cleare said. “I wish that she could be multiplied, because she was truly, truly dedicated. When you think of a teacher who is dedicated and gives us her life, that’s Mary Block. She has laid down her life in service to the community of Apopka and to every child that has ever gone through her classroom… She doesn’t hold back. It’s all or nothing.” 

Those in the community wishing to celebrate Block are invited to attend her retirement party from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 28 at the Fran Carlton Center.