After 28 years of working at Great Neck South High School, Ms. Joan Greenberg is retiring. As the school social worker, Ms. Greenberg works with students and their families, providing training, crisis intervention, and counseling.
“Out of every social worker I’ve seen, I think she’s the best. She makes me feel, for once, like myself… She literally does not judge at all. She lets you be yourself, and her environment’s just really comfortable,” said Sophomore Sean Wu.
Before becoming a social worker, Ms. Greenberg started her career as an educator, teaching biology and chemistry in Brooklyn. “People would come up to me, they would come out to me, they would talk to me about their problems,” said Ms. Greenberg. “And I thought, ‘what am I doing?”
During her time as a teacher, social workers came to train teachers at Ms. Greenberg’s high school to better support their students; this experience inspired her to return to school to be a social worker, taking night classes while still working as a teacher. While attending St. John’s University, she was hired as a guidance counselor at Mary Louis Academy for two years. After those years, Ms. Greenberg attended NYU for social work.
After getting her master’s degree in social work, Ms. Greenberg returned to a school setting. “I was going to work with addicted mothers and their children, but the program lost its funding… so they put me in P.S. 206 as an on-site social worker,” she said.
Ms. Greenberg worked at P.S. 206’s clinic, but the hours did not afford enough time to spend with her family. So when a friend told her of a job opening in the Great Neck school district, Ms. Greenberg applied. In 1998, Ms. Greenberg served as social worker at both South Middle School and JFK Elementary School. Eventually, she was assigned to two days a week at South Middle and three days a week at South High. Eight years ago, Ms. Greenberg was assigned to South High full-time. “I’ve always liked working at high schools the best. I was a high school teacher, and I love high school students.”
While Ms. Greenberg has served as a school social worker for the past twenty-eight years, she has also been an adjunct at NYU and a faculty advisor for the past thirty years.
In addition to her full case load, Ms. Greenberg supports students as an advisor to multiple clubs. She is the club advisor to Adolescent Advocates, Peer Drug Educators, and the Gender-Sexuality Alliance. Over the years, Ms. Greenberg has worked tirelessly to advocate for and raise awareness of any issue she’s passionate about. In the past, the GSA created training for faculty at South about pronouns, creating spreadsheets and a presentation. “I like advocating. I don’t mind fighting for people; I like it. It motivates me.”
Ms. Greenberg’s advocacy extends to her work in the Great Neck Teachers’ Association. She has chaired several committees, including the political action committee. Ms. Greenberg feels very strongly about representing teachers and supporting public education. “I just love the community… and I’m advocating for my people.”
Ms. Greenberg’s retirement from South High doesn’t mean the end of her work. She will continue to teach one night a week at NYU and “will always be an advocate.” Retirement won’t stop Ms. Greenberg from trying to make a change.
Over the years. Ms. Greenberg has poured her time, energy, and heart into supporting the community at South High. While her work won’t stop completely, Ms. Greenberg looks forward to “start doing life.” She’s worked two to three jobs since her career started, and she’s never had the free time to do as she pleases. In retirement, she plans to spend more time with family and friends, exercise more, learn Italian, and travel more. “I’m definitely going to visit family in Oregon, visit my daughters, and I’m going to Africa next May. I’m really excited about that.”
On Ms. Greenberg’s desk is a countdown until the end of the school year, and looking at it sometimes makes her tear up. “I love the community here. I love the students. I just like connecting with them. I like hearing their stories.”
And many members of the community will miss Ms. Greenberg after she retires. “She’s just always been, at the very least, an ear… I think she’s just that kind of person, big or small, she’s gonna hear you out. She’s gonna offer her best advice, and it’s usually the right advice,” said Ms. Dana Macrigiane. “I’m very upset [about her leaving], but I know where she lives.”
But Ms. Greenberg is positive that South will be in good hands after she leaves. “The social worker at North is going to be the social worker at South. So I feel so good about leaving because I’m going to hand off my people to somebody who I think is a fabulous social worker.”
With all that Ms. Greenberg has done for South High, “I just hope that, from all the years I’ve been here, I’ve made a difference and I’ve made a better place.”
