Barbara + 9 days or 54 hours = RETIREMENT!

FTA Union Dinner Party to celebrate the 100+ teachers retiring this year. I calculated somewhere between 4000 and 5000 years of experience being lost to the district this year. Each retiree got a certificate and an engraved glass apple. We "borrowed" one of the table decorations as they said they should go home. Nice party with several teachers from her school.

Will Barbara Make It to June (to retire?)

I saw this poem posted at her school when I went to pick her up Friday. This is dedicated to any of you who have been teachers. (She swears it just appeared on one of her cupboards one day.)

June Ahead
June ahead,
Hurry June.
For I am tired.
This one needs time
To renew and refresh,
To put back the tiny cogs
Which have slipped,
Or been jostled
Out of place.
This one
Needs freedom
From eight o'clock,
From jumping, bubbling energy
That never tires.
Freedom, June,
From bells and books,
And crowded rooms.
Just so tired,
Of the need
To be someplace next.

(Glen Keener,
North Carolina Education)