Early retirees talk about future outside teaching

I spoke with a handful of early retirees last week. Some told me they were born to teach, others stumbled into it and discovered a great joy. All have their reasons for retiring and all have different reactions to the last day of school.

Some spoke of the next phase of their life with excitement, some with fear. My questions made one teacher cry. Another still sounded unsure about his decision.

Some teachers are counting the days. Others are too busy to even pretend they have a countdown in their head. Some wonder what they'll do next and others expect they'll be back in the classroom as a substitute next year. A few deliberately made plans for August so they won't have time to reflect on the back-to-school activities around them.

Volunteer work. Travel. Tackling the pile of books they've wanted to read for years. These are some of the activities these teachers look forward to in their free time. Several educators said they'll enjoy the freedom to use the bathroom whenever they want, a luxury only teachers understand.

They will miss their colleagues, their students, the joy of sharing knowledge. They've had their good days and their bad, the memories that make them laugh and those that make them cry. They've questioned their career choice as often as they've questioned their decision to retire. They know it will be strange not walking into a building that's been their second home for 20, 30, even 40 years.

None of them, though, will miss grading papers.

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Randy Feuerhelm, social studies teacher

Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids

When the Cedar Rapids school board approved the district's early retirement incentive, Randy Feuerhelm did what you'd expect him to do.

The economics teacher did the math.

Had the numbers not worked in his favor, Feuerhelm would have remained at Jefferson High School another year. But they did, and now he looks at the unplanned free time as a gift.

“My wife told me to take six months off before I dive into anything, so I think I'll do that,” he said with a laugh. “My standard answer is I'm going to do whatever I want for as long as I want, and then I'm going to take a nap.”

Spending time with his father tops Feuerhelm's “to do” list, along with reading and finally making his way through his boxed DVD collections. He said he'll likely substitute teach more than he expects after his six months of nothing plan expires.

Feuerhelm, 57, also signed a contract to continue as the wrestling coach at Harding Middle School, a job he's had for 31 years. He also coached wrestling at Kennedy; 2009-10 was his final season.

“Coaching is different than being in the classroom,” he said. “I'll get my kids fix.”

Feuerhelm has taught for 34 years, 31 of those with the Cedar Rapids school district. His first decade with the district was tumultuous, as it came during an economic struggle that forced teacher layoffs annually.

Feuerhelm received his last RIF (Reduction In Force) the same day the district gave him a plaque celebrating 10 years of service.

“Out of all of them, that one scared me the most,” he said. “It was the lowest point in my career. I just thought ‘Why am I doing this?'”

The answer is the years that followed – the students he's taught, the friends he made. As he prepares for his last day, Feuerhelm is well aware that his decision to retire saved another teacher's job. And he knows the next generation of teachers will be fine.

“We were in that situation once,” he said. “The old guys left and they handed us the ball. We had to step up and these teachers will, too.”

Cyndy Hilby, business and marketing teacher

Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids

Cyndy Hilby isn't the only retiree in her family.

Hilby's husband, Roosevelt Middle School Principal Steve Hilby, also will retire in June. The couple will remain in Cedar Rapids for the next year or so, eventually relocating to their second home in Arizona.

It was the Cedar Rapids school district's early retirement incentive that prompted Hilby, 54, to retire earlier than she had planned, but personal reasons factored in her decision, too.

“I had breast cancer last year and you realize your clock is ticking when you have a scare like that,” she said. “I love my job, but I have a lot of things I want to do.”

She plans to volunteer and travel. She also hopes to take classes, although not the usual business education courses she takes at Kirkwood Community College.

“It will be weird not doing that this summer,” she said.

Hilby's career started in Shellsburg, where she taught business for four years. She then accepted a position with the Cedar Rapids school district, teaching at Roosevelt Middle School and Kennedy High School before moving to her current position at Jefferson. The 2010-11 school year is her 32nd year as a teacher.

Hilby enjoys teaching because every day is different, but at the same time calls education a “young person's profession.”

“Not young like just out of college, but you have to have a lot of energy for this job,” she said. “I still have the energy for the classroom, but it's everything outside of it that weighs on you.”

Hilby is Jefferson's DECA advisor and is in charge of all career activities students complete in homeroom. She's also been the building liaison for job shadowing and internships.

“I am asking who's going to be taking over the career forum,” she said. “I have a real passion for career education, so I hope they'll continue that.”

Hilby will miss her colleagues and students, particularly the relationships she's built with them over the years, and the sense of purpose that comes with teaching.

Her advice to the next generation of teachers? Build relationships with the kids. Talk to them in the halls. Go to their sporting events, concerts, plays.

“Kids will do anything for you if they know that you care,” Hilby said.

Craig Jelinek, social studies teacher

Prairie High School in Cedar Rapids

If there's one piece of advice Craig Jelinek has for the next generation of teachers, it's to trust their instincts.

“If you think it's the right thing to do, then it is,” Jelinek said.

He followed his own advice when he accepted the College Community school district's early retirement incentive, bringing his 37-year teaching and coaching career to an end.

“You know when it's time,” Jelinek, 59, said. “I've been in school for 54 years. My seniors talk about how weird it's going to be not being in school next year. I say ‘Tell me about it.'”

Jelinek started teaching in 1974 with the Central Lee school district in Southeast Iowa. From there he went to La Salle. He was hired by the College Community school district in 1984. He became Prairie's head football coach five years later.

Not coaching football, he said, will be strange.

“I've been playing or coaching football since third grade,” Jelinek said.

While the district's early retirement program helped Jelinek make the decision to retire, he said he wasn't the deciding factor.

“I didn't go into teaching for money, I'm not leaving for money,” he said. “It helps make the decision, but it's not the decision. I could go back and forth on this forever. The incentive gives you a date.”

Now that the decision has been made, Jelinek finds himself wondering what to do with the lesson plans and classroom memorabilia he's accumulated over the years. Teachers, he said, are a resourceful group, so it's possible those who follow him won't need his materials.

“I'll probably hang on to one copy of everything until I'm sure,” he said. “Then maybe I'll have a big bonfire.”

Also on Jelinek's end-of-the-year “to do” list is writing a good-bye speech for the district staff.

“I am going to miss the teachers,” he said. “I'll miss the kids, but it's the teachers that make this job what it is. I'm the husk and they're the corn.”

Mary Krumbholz, kindergarten teacher

Prairie Heights Elementary School in Cedar Rapids

Mary Krumbholz knows there's no such thing as an ordinary day for teachers – especially when you teach kindergartners.

“It's a new adventure every day in kindergarten,” she said with a laugh.

A educator for 41 years, Krumbholz has had many adventures in her career, nearly all in the same building – Prairie Heights Elementary School.

Krumbholz's first year with the district was teaching at a satellite location in Walford. She's always taught kindergarten, first or second grades.

With her last day of school so near, Krumbholz hasn't finalized the list of what she plans to do next, but she does know what she won't do.

“I don't plan on working anywhere for money,” she said. “I'm just going to enjoy retirement.”

This year is the year for Krumbholz to do just that. She turned 62, which means she can and apply for both her Social Security and IPERS (Iowa Public Employees Retirement System) benefits.

“For me, the magic number was hitting age 62, where I'm eligible for my benefits and still healthy enough to enjoy retirement,” she said.

Some of that enjoyment means spending more time with her four grandchildren and volunteering with her church.

Krumbholz encourages new students to use the resources available to them, especially mentoring programs.

“Work with your colleagues and ask a lot of questions,” she said. “Take advantage of their experience.”

It's the experience of her colleagues who have already retired that Krumbholz will rely on several months from now when back-to-school season is in full swing.

“I might feel a little nostalgia, but what I've heard of the others who have gone before me is ‘You will love it, you will love it, you will love it,'” she said with a laugh. “If I feel the need to buy school supplies, I'll buy them for my grandchildren.”

Patti Knutson, language arts teacher

Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids

“In my family, teaching is kind of the family business,” Patti Knutson said.

Her grandmother was a teacher. So was her father. Her siblings taught, too. Her husband was an educator and now her son teaches.

An educator for 42 years, Knutson has turned down eight early retirement incentives, the first when she was 55 years old.

“I wasn't ready,” Knutson, 63, said. “This one was more timely.”

Still, it wasn't an easy decision. Knutson loves teaching and can't imagine what it will be like not spending her days in a classroom.

“This is fun,” she said. “I like coming to school every day. I haven't taken a sick day since my son was born and he's 31.”

Knutson has spent her entire career with the Cedar Rapids school district, teaching at both Harding and Roosevelt middle schools before coming to Jefferson. She teaches Advanced Placement English, plus three ninth grade language arts classes, two of them upper level.

For Knutson, it isn't the 40 hours in the classroom that's too much, but the 40 hours outside of it. She grades papers every night and spends a good portion of her weekend doing the same.

“I think, at a certain point, you have to hand over the rein to a younger staff,” she said.

Some of that younger staff, she said, are her former students – grown men and women who refuse to call her anything but Mrs. Knutson.

Knutson isn't sure what she'll do next year, but plans to substitute on a limited basis.

“I love teaching, it's just a wonderful and gratifying job,” she said. “As much as you give, you receive.”

Knutson's position is one of several that district administrators won't fill in response to declining student enrollment. She shrugs off that decision, saying she has faith in the educators of tomorrow.

“They are a bright group, so I know we're leaving things in good order,” she said.

Gary Lindsay, language arts and journalism teacher

Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids

Gary Lindsay thought the 2009-10 school year would be his last as a teacher, but then the Cedar Rapids school district's budgets were frozen.

“I worried my job, that the newspaper advisor position, wouldn't be filled,” Lindsay, 62, said.

As the faculty advisor for Kennedy High School's student newspaper, Lindsay has given 25 years to The Torch, more than half of his 40-year teaching career.

Talking via cell phone in his office on press night – the night his staff puts the school paper together – Lindsay said he knew the 2010-11 school year would be his last as an educator.

“I had already made the decision before the early retirement incentive was announced,” he said.

The bonus makes the decision sweeter, though not easier.

“I'm really concerned that we find someone to carry on the program,” he said. “I hope we will.”

Ironically, most of Lindsay's time next year will be spent helping new high school journalism teachers. Lindsay is the North Central Regional Director of the Journalism Education Association and serves as a mentor for three new high school newspaper advisors – one in Tiffin, one in Cedar Rapids and one in Des Moines.

Most of the association's journalism mentors are retired newspaper advisors. Lindsay said juggling both teaching and mentoring was difficult, and he looks forward to giving more time to the association next year.

That doesn't mean he won't miss teaching. Lindsay said it will be experiences like press night he'll miss the most. The stress of meeting deadlines, the satisfaction of a job done well, the adrenaline rush of planning the next issue.

“If I had retired last year, I would have missed one of our more exciting work sessions,” Lindsay said.

It started with a note from the school office saying that all power would be turned off at 10:30 that night. The Torch's deadline was 10 p.m.

The Torch staff met the deadline, only a computer error delayed the last page of the paper. Unable to send it to the paper's printer, Lindsay and his students had to quickly re-do it, pressing send at 10:29 p.m. The power turned off a minute later.

“We were all giving each other high fives in the dark while trying to find our way out of the classroom,” Lindsay said with a laugh. “It was memorable.”

Dennis Roloff, industrial technology teacher

Kennedy High School

Dennis Roloff enrolled at the University of Northern Iowa on a track scholarship. Running eventually led to the career he didn't know he always wanted.

“For me, teaching has been my life,” Roloff, 57, said. “I've been at it for 35 years.”

His first decade with the Cedar Rapids school district, however, didn't make things easy.

“I got RIFed 10 years straight,” Roloff said.

The Reduction in Force happened at a time when state finances were tight and districts had to slash budgets. Roloff was called back every year, but he said the stress of the unknown took its toll.

“It's tough not knowing what's going to happen,” he said.

He has that same “not knowing” feeling with his upcoming retirement.

“I don't know if I'm ready,” he said. “I guess I'll find out this summer.”

Roloff will be back for his 21st year with the girls' basketball team next season, which makes retirement somewhat easier to face. Roloff also coaches the boys' track program at Kennedy, but he won't do so next year.

Roloff's career started with the HLV school district. The Jefferson High School graduate was then hired at Jefferson. He also taught at Wilson before moving to Kennedy.

“It's been very entertaining and exciting,” Roloff said. “Every day is different. You know you're going to wake up at 5:30 a.m. and be at school at 7:30 a.m., but after that, you don't know. You have a plan in place, but something happens and then you have to operate on the fly.”

It's the same way many of the district's new teachers will have to learn, without as many senior staff around to help, Roloff said.

“College teaches you, but it doesn't teach you how to teach,” he said. “That's what the young teachers learn from their colleagues.”

Kathy Shanstrom, 7th grade social studies

Excelsior Middle School in Marion

Kathy Shanstrom's teaching career began 37 years ago. She took one year off for child care.

That child, Robert Shanstrom, is now a sixth grade teacher at Excelsior Middle School.

“It goes by fast,” Shanstrom, 60, said.

Retirement wasn't something Shanstrom thought she'd do for another year. She was toying with the idea, but didn't know if the Linn-Mar school district would offer an early retirement incentive.

“Once they did, I met with my financial advisor and he recommended I take it,” she said.

Shanstrom is the district's only early retirement this year. She isn't sure what she'll do with her free time -- now that she'll have some.

“I have two grandkids and I hope they'll take up more of my time,” she said. “I have a house that needs – well, what's a word stronger than clean?”

She has a few short trips planned with her husband and a cruise scheduled next summer year.

“I will miss the kids, the camaraderie among the staff,” Shanstrom said. “I want to say I'll miss everything. There's going to be a lot that hasn't sunk in yet.”

Shanstrom's entire teaching career has been with the Linn-Mar school district. She expects she'll miss teaching at certain times during the school year, weeks that were set aside for specific class units like The Middle Ages Festival and Global Issues project, more than the first day of school in August.

She's not worried, though, about who will take her place.

“I think the young people today are coming in with such fresh ideas, especially in the area of technology,” she said. “There's still a good balance between the experienced and the newcomers in this school.”

For those who are new, Shanstrom asks them to enjoy their career.

“Look for the positive in every situation and you'll find it,” she said.

Jane Suiter, science teacher

Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids

Jane Suiter figured she had another two or three years in her before she retired. She changed her plans after the Cedar Rapids school district announced its early retirement incentive.

Not that she's giving up teaching 100 percent.

“I teach part-time at Kirkwood and I'll still do that,” Suiter, 62, said.

Of course, she added, there's a difference between teaching students who want to be at a class and those who have to be – and that's something she won't miss, along with lesson plans and grading papers.

“Classroom management is probably the most draining thing about teaching,” Suiter said. “Your head is constantly spinning. I'm always thinking about work, even if I'm not working.”

It's not unusual for Suiter to go on vacation and see something that relates to one of her classroom lessons. Most vacationers buy souvenirs, she purchases visual aids.

“I was in Pompeii last summer and I made a point to visit the volcanoes so I could share the experience with my geology students,” Suiter said. “It's going to be hard to turn that off.”

Suiter's career started on a part-time basis. She was a substitute teacher for 15 years before becoming a full-time educator. A member of the Kennedy staff for 20 years, Suiter has coached volleyball – the 2009-10 season was her last – and served as the Cyber Defense Club faculty advisor.

She still coaches Kennedy's Club Volleyball team.

“I've enjoyed pretty much everything about my job,” Suiter said. “I am going to miss working with the kids, learning new things with them and because of them.”

Because, in the end, students make the job fun.

“They're the reason we do this,” Suiter said. “You have to like working with kids to make teaching worth it.”

Tom Yates, language arts teacher

City High School in Iowa City

Tom Yates better hope those who have asked him how he plans to spend his retirement never compare answers.

“I have people ask me all the time and I never tell the truth,” he laughed.

As president of the Iowa City Education Association – he just started his third term – Yates will find himself in Iowa City schools next year.

“I'm hopeful I will have more time next school year to talk to more teachers and do what I can to bolster the profession,” he said.

Yates, 57, met the IPERS (Iowa Public Employees Retirement System) Rule of 88 – the sum of his age, employees must be 55 or older, and years of service equals or exceeds 88 – this year. That's one reason why he's retiring. The other is that he feels City High – the only school he's taught at during his 31-year career – is in a good place.

“It's sort of a sense of leaving the party at its peak, so to speak,” Yates said. “I don't think I'd want to retire if the school wasn't doing well.”

Finally, a piece of advice a colleague shared with Yates years before continues to resonate: “You need to go when you still feel good about the profession and what you do.”

“I have kept that in my mind,” he said. “I thought it was very wise.”

The district's early retirement incentive didn't hurt, either. Yates said last year's incentive was better, but that's a risk teachers take when weighing their options.

“I'm grateful that the district is offering an incentive,” he said. “A lot of districts don't or can't.”

But don't expect Yates to have a retirement countdown in his classroom. School is still in session and until that bell rings for the last time, there's work to do.

“I'm not going to miss bells,” he said. “I don't need bells to tell me what to do.”

He also won't miss taking attendance or grading papers. Actually, he won't miss papers of any kind at all.

“I figured out one day I handle about 6,000 pieces of paper from students every year,” Yates said. “I know I'm not going to miss that.”