‘You can’t take the classroom out of the teacher’ - Dale Zurbrick still sharing the Great White Way

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Former Glen Cove music teacher Dale Zurbrick could probably be best described as pleasantly petulant.

“I remember the year he retired,” said Dr. Michael Israel, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the Glen Cove School District and a former colleague of Zurbrick’s. “At the start of school the next September he sat in a lawn chair at the entrance of the high school driveway, with a drink in his hand, and waved to everyone as they drove in.” Israel gave a hearty laugh as he recalled that memory.

Zurbrick, now 70, retired from the school in 2002, but he was more than just a teacher to the Glen Cove community. He was considered legendary. An actor and performer in his own right, Zurbrick brought his experience and talents to the Glen Cove Masquers, the school’s drama club bringing them to international recognition during his tenure at the school.

Right after he retired from GCHS he began teaching classes at the Glen Cove Senior Center. Now, in his 15th year of teaching there, he enjoys sharing his vast knowledge about Broadway writers and composers, commemorative stamps, and songs about food. “We sing songs like, ‘Animal Crackers in My Soup,’ ‘Food Glorious Food,’ and ‘The Banana Boat Song,’” Zurbrick recalled. “We did ‘On Top of Spaghetti’ —it was quite fun!”

Zurbrick began his teaching career in 1968 in Clarence, N.Y., a small town just outside of Buffalo. He moved to a junior high school in the Bronx in 1973 and then began teaching in the Glen Cove School District in 1976. It was in Glen Cove that his Masters of Music in Performance came in handy when he created the drama club at Finley Middle School in 1977. “They moved me from the middle school to the high school and in 1982 I directed the high school production of ‘Anything Goes,’” Zurbrick recalled with pride. “I took over the Masquers in 1984 and kept doing it until I retired in 2002.”

Prior to coming to Glen Cove, Zurbrick performed at the Springside Dinner Theater in Auburn, N.Y. with actress Annie Potts in 1972. Potts would go on to star in movies and television shows in the 1980s such as “Pretty in Pink,” “Ghostbusters,” and “Designing Women,” a successful sitcom that ran from 1986 to 1993.

During the 1970s Zurbrick also worked with veteran Broadway actor Michael Vita. “Vita was in ‘Bye-Bye Birdie,’” Zurbrick remembered. “He became a mentor to me in my career.”

But it was working with students that Zurbrick loved best.

In 1986, he brought the Glen Cove Masquers international fame with the performance of “Noises Off” at the International Thespian Festival. The International Thespian Festival, also known as ThesFest, is a weeklong festival sponsored by the Educational Theatre Association. High school students from all over the world can attend workshops presented by theatre professionals and are given opportunities to audition for college admission and scholarships. The students also participate in group and individual performances.

“Ours was the first high school production of ‘Noises off’ in the world,” Zurbrick said with delight. “It was then that I started believing in my own legend.”

Retirement has not slowed Zurbrick down one bit. He sang in the choir at the Riverside Church for 29 years and still organizes and directs the Choir Endowment Fund gala every year. He is also the music director for a weekly radio show on WCWP 88.1 FM called “Senior Moments.” Guests on the show are either seniors or people who can speak to senior issues. Zurbrick often obtains the guests through his personal contacts. “We’ve had doctors, lawyers, mayors, chief of police, a woman who started a group for widows, cabaret performers,” Zurbrick said about guests on the radio show. “We even got Lisa Vroman, the longest running ‘Christine’ from Broadway’s ‘Phantom of the Opera.’”

In March he is teaching a class on caring for the endangered species of land, water, and air such as hummingbirds, bumble bees, the bald eagle, and the monarch butterfly.

In 2013 Zurbrick was diagnosed with a diabetic foot ulcer, which led to a leg amputation. He was fitted for a prosthetic leg after the surgery but that hasn’t slowed him down in body or spirit. He still travels frequently from his home in Brooklyn to Long Island. “When people see I have a prosthetic leg, they just get out of my way.” Zurbrick laughed, adding, “My father died from diabetes at the age of 47 and if I’ve outlived my father all these years then it’s not that bad.”

Not surprisingly Zurbrick has maintained relationships with many of his former students over the years and often visits them. He has traveled to the homes of former students in Albany, Washington D.C., Florida, Boston, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, and Philly. “I love to go to Philly to visit a former student who is on QVC,” Zurbrick said. “I get pampered among all the kitchen products.”

He is often asked to host or emcee events in Glen Cove, most recently the city’s annual Howl-o-ween Pet Parade. Zurbrick said he’s always happy to help out anytime he’s asked. And for now at least he will continue to teach classes at the senior center. “You can take the teacher out of the classroom,” Zurbrick said chuckling. “But you can’t take the classroom out of the teacher.”