Meroby School News

Mr. Parr (a.k.a. The Dogfather) is a fun, hippie teacher. He is loved (not the mushy kind) by every student that crosses his path. He teaches with pizazz and fundamentals. He has many catch phrases and sayings such as "Live to write, write to live." He says: “Live to write, write to live” when he is trying to get us motivated to write.

He also says “Transition Time” when he is trying to teach some of the broken lightbulbs in my class that they need to be calm when it’s time to transition into a different subject or classroom. He says “Meal Deal” when he gets really excited about something.

Mr. Parr is an amazing storyteller. He puts lots of emotion and detail into his stories. He told us the story of how he got the nickname “Dog” or “ Dogfather." However first, I need to tell you that he went to four different colleges without changing location! How did he do that?

Well, his first year he went to Gorham State College. Then his second year, they changed the name to Gorham State College of the University of Maine. His third year, they renamed it to University of Maine at Gorham, Then his final year, they changed it to Univiversity of Maine at Portland Gorham (POGO). I mean, how many people do you know that have gone to four different colleges without changing location?

Sorry, I lost my train of thought. I was about to tell you the story of how Mr. Parr got his nickname. Well, as you know, in college most kids’ parents send them things like cookies or chips. Well, Mr. Parr’s friend had just gotten a huge bag of cheese puffs from home when he walked into the boys’ hangout lounge and sat down. He started to eat the huge bag of chips right in front of Mr. Parr and his friends. He sat and ate about three handfuls of cheese puffs without offering to share with anybody.

They were drooling. The guy still didn’t get the hint! He ate another handful and then, as he rolled up the bag, he said; “See you later guys.” Then threw the bag into the trash. Mr. Parr got up, looked into the trash, grabbed the bag, unrolled it, took a handful and started eating. He shared with his friends and soon got the nickname “Dog” for going so-called “dumpster diving.”

As you can see, Mr. Parr is “close to perfect, far from normal.” Oh and did I mention that Mr. Parr’s nickname stuck after college and now his classroom and life has been taken over by dog name brands, dog toys, and dog bowls. In fact, if anything has the word dog in it, he has it.

Mr. Parr even used to use dog breath mints instead of human breath mints! You may have heard of them. They were called Yip Yap’s, but they sadly went out of business. Even so, Mr. Parr still has multiple vacant Yip Yap containers hidden somewhere in his awesome classroom.

Mr. Parr, as you can see, is very different and awesome. I am very lucky to be in that classroom. I love it! (No offense to other fifth grade teachers of Meroby.)