By Nicole Collado
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y.-- Growing up on Long Island, Karen Bisso wanted to get as far
away from home as she could without leaving New York. Bisso packed up her things and
made the decision to attend SUNY Plattsburgh. Earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree
in special education Bisso knew that teaching was her calling. After 30 years of teaching
our youth at Plattsburgh high school, Bisso will be retiring this spring.
From a young age Bisso knew she wanted to be a teacher, “when other kids were
playing house, I was playing school with all of my teddy bears set up in a circle,” Bisso
said. She decided to specialize in special education because at the time two of her family
members had autism---that number has now risen to three.
After graduating from SUNY Plattsburgh Bisso spent three years in Southern
California with her husband and working as an order processing clerk for a computer
sales company. While working there she still knew she wanted to be a teacher. Bisso
spent her free time creating a plan for the company, “at that time they didn’t have Prezi,
so I was literally cutting and pasting information onto poster boards,” Bisso said, “even
when I wasn’t a teacher I was doing teacher things.” After presenting her plan to the
president of the company Bisso made her way to becoming the director of sales for the
company.
Bisso and her husband at the time decided they wanted to move back to the east
coast. They tried New York City, and going back to the area where her husband was from
but neither seemed to be the right fit for them, “we decided that going back to Plattsburgh
would be like meeting in the middle because it’s where we met,” Said Bisso. Bisso got
her job at Plattsburgh high school and never looked back.
Cara Monette, Bisso’s student in the early 2000s said, “She’s got passion behind
her, she loves her job and all of her students, they’re her children too.” Monette found out
she was pregnant in January of 2002, her sophomore year, Bisso then started
homeschooling Monette in September of 2001. Monett had her son at the end of
September and Bisso came to the hospital bearing gifts, and of course, her schoolwork.
“I was staying in Champlain for a while and Karen would come up to give me my
lessons,” Monette said, “she loved seeing my son too.” Unfortunately tragedy struck hard
and Monette’s son passed that same year.
“Karen took time from her job at school and came to my sons funeral. She made it
clear that I didn’t need to return for school until I was absolutely certain that I could do
it,” Monette said.
When able to return to school Monette just didn’t have the focus she used to after
such a hard loss, “Karen saw me struggling and wanted to help so she referred me to a
GED program, I can’t thank her enough for what she did for me with school,” Monette
said, “she was a light in my dark and she never knew it.”
Monette stayed in touch with Bisso through all these years and when Bisso
decided that she needed to do more and ran for state assembly in 2012 and 2014 Monette
voted and advocated for her.
Teaching and raising a family wasn’t enough for Bisso, “in actuality I needed to do
something more,” Bisso said. She decided to run for state assembly in 2012 and 2014.
Bisso amassed 60,000 miles on her vehicle in 2014 running for assemblywoman.
“I would drive two hours to these districts to attend their town meetings and talk to
residents to drive two hours back that same night and teach the next morning,” stated
Bisso.
For Bisso the hardest part was that whether or not she got elected she wanted to
help these people. While she obviously individually could not help everyone she did her
best. “I remember going to the volunteer fire department in Hopkinton and hearing that
one thing they really needed was an iPad for better communication and to see which
volunteers would be going to the fire so they could be more efficient,” said Bisso.
She went home that night and saw her iPad on the wall, took it down reset it to its
factory settings. She then proceeded to put it in a box, tape it up, and sent it to the
Hopkinton Fort Jackson volunteer fire department the next day. “I only used it for music
anyway,” Bisso said.
Steven Parker, Fire Chief at Hopkinton’s volunteer fire department said, “We
were really hoping she win would because we felt she was genuine in her desire to help.”
Parker spoke about all of the visits that Bisso made to the station for training, and
fundraisers and how involved she was when she visited. Then of course there was the
iPad, “when dispatch tones us out to a call the app sends calls to our phone and allows the
chief to see who has responded,” said Parker, “this way we don’t have to wait until we
get to the scence to see if we need to call nearby town stations for backup.”
The app Parker spoke about is called Active 911 and it allows the fire department
to save valuable time, “in the case of structure or motor vehicle accidents 5 or 10 minutes
is a big difference between good and bad,” Parker said.
It clear that in Bisso’s life there are two central factors, family and community.
Bisso’s youngest child Lisa Bisso who attends SUNY Plattsburgh said, “My mom is the
most hardworking person I know. She perseveres and is brave and does things that not
just anyone can do,” Bisso’s daughter continued, “I hope one day I grow up to be the
caring and strong person that everyone knows her to be.”
----end----
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