Staff go above and beyond expectations in the service they provide to Rainy River District School Board (RRDSB) students, and the board makes sure to recognize it. One of the most recent staff members to be recognized is Robert Murphy, received a recognition of excellence for 25 years of service from the board at their October 7, 2025 meeting. The Fort Frances Times spoke with Murphy to get his perspective on receiving the recognition.
Beginning his tenure at the Rainy River District School Board was a bit abnormal, but that wasn’t because he was leaving a position in Nunavut after six years of teaching experience. It was because he started teaching at the Rainy River District School Board in September of 2001, just before 9/11.
Aside from completely restructuring air travel and border security across North America, Murphy regards this as an ominous beginning to his teaching of English and History at RRDSB.
“Taking that ominous beginning out, yeah, I settled in pretty good, and obviously I have been here ever since,” said Murphy.
“I cannot imagine not [teaching,] not doing that. Even when there are bad days, the good days outnumber them. I just think, ‘What’s the next year going to be like? What are my students going to be like? What new information can I bring in?’ Because, especially with History and English, you can bring in new things. You learn new things, and you bring them in, and you want to share them [with the students.] As far as English is going, I’m a storyteller at heart, so it fits me.”
While he may be a storyteller at his core, his motivation for teaching is rather simple – he enjoys doing it.
“I just want to keep doing it. It just feels right. And it felt right like this, like I said, I was up North, and now I’m here. Sometimes, it has a similar climate in the winter to the north, but so much more freedom to travel,” said Murphy.
“If you wanted to travel to Winnipeg or Thunder Bay, I don’t have to get on an airline. Nunavut was only one way in, and one way out.”
Much like he enjoys his freedom to travel from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay and beyond, Murphy, also known as Mr. Murphy in his professional life, enjoys running a Dungeons & Dragons club with his students.
“In 2008, some students came to me and asked about a Dungeons & Dragons club. That’s kind of a hobby of mine, and that’s a good outlet for me to create stories and things like that. So we have been doing that every year since 2008,” said Murphy.
“It attracts a whole new group of kids. They get very, very interested in it, and I think it gives them a chance to kind of weave in their own kind of creativity and storytelling. I’ve seen a lot of them kind of blossom out of their shells.”
Not only has Murphy been involved with the Dungeons & Dragons club at Rainy River High School, but he has also been a co-teacher for the writer’s club and the drama club. But, more than anything, Mr. Murphy wants his students-to-be to know he isn’t quite as scary as the rumours might suggest he is.
“Sometimes I see Grade Nines when they come in. Sometimes I don’t get them until they’re in Grade Ten,” said Murphy. “[However,] if you’re in my class, you can expect that I will enforce the rules. Everybody knows they’ve had a rumoured teacher. [But,] it was probably scarier in the rumours than it was in real life.”
