The end of the year has finally arrived.
Not only is it time to leave for seniors, but for some teachers as well. On March 5, the proposed Early Retirement Plan passed, attracting teachers district-wide.


In exchange for an intent to retire, employees will receive the individual Board contribution toward health insurance benefits, equal to that of active FHSD employees, for the fiscal years 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013. In other words, they would receive the benefits they would have normally received if they were still employed by the district for four years. All employees that applied within the given time frame were accepted. Across the District, 36 applied – six of which are from FHN.
“I didn’t think it would go through,” AP Literature teacher Mary Baker said. “It’s weird to leave. It’s going to be odd not spending time with students.”
Baker – who says she will continue ACT tutoring next year – had been considering an upcoming retirement, but was pleasantly surprised when she received a phone call notifying her of the opportunity to do so this year. Mike Kenny, Sherri Pogue, Pat Miller, Donna Carlson and Paula Young will also be taking advantage of the plan.
“I think it was a good idea,” Principal Darlene Jones said. “I’m glad the District was able to provide that for them. With the economy the way it is, people are concerned about their future and getting income to help them stay afloat. [The plan] provides more security.”
The District had more than those retiring in mind when they passed this plan. By encouraging
an extra amount of employees to retire, jobs of many first year teachers – who otherwise would have been let go to compensate for the district’s financial issues – were saved.
Additionally, the closing of the school year has brought about change within the Board of Education. Elections were held last month, bringing in newcomer Stephen Johnson and bringing back Marty Hodits for his fourth consecutive year on the Board. With the change in members comes a change in positions – the Board members vote to see who they feel should be President, Vice President and Treasurer.
Replacing Mark Lafata as President is Mike Sommer. Hodits is now the Vice-President with Mike Hoehn as Treasurer. Patty Knight remains the Secretary of the Board. Board members serve three-year terms, but officers only serve one-year terms. However, since there are no term limits, they may remain officers as long as they are reelected by the Board each year.
“[Our goal is] to improve student learning. That’s number one,” Hodits said. “[We want to encourage] respect for all of our administration. Dr. [Renee] Schuster is hired to run the District and we want her to run it. We do not want to micromanage. We want the principals, administrators
and teachers to say what they feel about something without fearing retribution.”