Geometry. Trigonometry and Precalculus. Calculus. Math teacher David DeLong has taught it all. In the process, DeLong has turned what is many students’ most dreaded subject into a class to look forward to. After 23 years of finding derivatives, writing proofs, and converting rectangular coordinates to polar, DeLong plans to retire from teaching in the fall.
DeLong will retire in the fall of the 2025-2026 school year after over two decades of teaching at WA and nine years of coaching WA’s varsity golf team. His retirement comes after a long teaching career; prior to teaching at WA, DeLong was a math teacher at Brockton High School for four years and North Reading High School for five years.
For DeLong, math had always come easy, allowing him to grow comfortable with the subject and the idea of teaching it to other people.
“It’s just something I’ve always been good at,” DeLong said. “I feel like I understand it enough that I can explain it to everybody else in front of me.”
According to DeLong, the reason he chose to come to WA was due to its reputation paired with his desire to work at a higher-ranking school.
“[Westford Academy] made me feel like professionally, it was the best place to be,” DeLong said.
As DeLong’s teaching career at WA began, he discovered that one of his favorite parts of being at the school was the energy of the students. He believes this is due to the fact that WA students are driven and have a strong desire to learn.
“[WA students] know why they’re here,” DeLong said. “They get along well together.”
According to DeLong, another aspect of WA that brightened his day was the support he felt from the people he worked with. His coworkers feel the same way about DeLong, as members of the math department have much to say about DeLong’s radiant personality. Fellow math teacher Kathleen Aylward, who began teaching at WA at the same time as DeLong, cites his kind and helpful nature.
“He’s just a good go-to guy,” Aylward said. ” If you need something, you know you can ask [DeLong] and he will help you.”
Aylward believes that what she and the WA students and faculty will miss the most about DeLong is his sense of humor and how he was never absent from school. Additionally, the two taught Calculus together for a number of years, and she recalls his unique ability to find ways of solving certain problems that others would not think of.
Still, according to Aylward, she and the rest of the math department are happy for DeLong and excited for his retirement plans, which involve moving down south to where many of his friends live and playing plenty of golf.
“He deserves a lifetime of happiness,” Aylward said. “It’s a big loss, but we’re excited for his next chapter.”
