Schools

Back in the classroom again

More often, retired teachers find their way back to school.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK, Times Staff Writer
Published September 17, 2007

Virginia Lee was a Pasco school teacher for 20 years. She retired. After three years, she had enough of that, so now she's back teaching at Pasco Elementary.
	[Zach Boyden-Holmes | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Zach Boyden-Holmes | Times] Pasco Elementary teacher Virginia Lee does a reading exercise.

DADE CITY - Virginia Lee sits in the corner of the second-floor classroom at Pasco Elementary School, surrounded by four fourth-graders who have just finished reading the slim story Sky by Julia Hanna.

"Let's go to the conclusion," Lee says quietly, despite the buzz of activity of other small groups of children nearby. "What was the conclusion of the story?"

"They made it out alive," one boy responds, winning a smile and a nod from his teacher, whose demeanor doesn't change whether the kids are fussy, noisy or well-behaved.

Nothing unusual in that. Except, perhaps, that Lee is a teacher.

It's a job she held for 21 years, all at Pasco Elementary, after life as an artist and a mom. She worked with children who have special needs, in a self-contained classroom, and loved it.

But three years ago, Lee decided to move on.

"I was old enough," she explains, though she won't give her age. Some things remain secret, Lee says reproachfully. "I was expecting to do a lot of traveling."

Travel she did, to Alaska, New York and London. She went with her daughter, Kathy, who runs a photo business in Tampa.

When not traveling, though, Lee, who has lived in Land O'Lakes for 30 years, discovered that retirement was kind of boring. Lonely, too, for a self-professed people person.

"I was busy doing projects for my family, and things like that. But I mostly found that I was off work, and everybody else was working," Lee said. "And I missed the kids."

That's a common refrain among educators who try their hand at retirement. Many keep a hand in the schools by subbing and volunteering. Then there's the few who just can't stay away.

Renee Sedlack, Pasco's personnel director, has seen them from time to time in her office and, before that, as a principal.

She doesn't have any statistics, but Sedlack says retirees return "probably more often than you think."

Several have moved to Florida from other states, often thinking that they would while away the hours fishing, tanning, hanging out with grandkids. Grandkids go to school, too, though, and pastimes don't hold everyone's attention for long.

Sedlack welcomes the veterans.

"It's a good thing for us if we can tap into that resource," she says, noting that Florida has plenty of qualified teachers if you count the retirees among the total. "They have experience, they're mature and they have a longing to teach."

Heidi Morris, Pasco Elementary assistant principal, was thrilled to see Lee's resume in the stack when hiring a special education teacher during the summer.

"She just loves the kids and likes to be active," Morris says of the school's one-time teacher of the year. "She saw the ad and updated her resume and all of her paperwork, and she applied. There were several applicants, and she was the best one for the position."

It helps that Lee already knew the school, many of the staff members, most of the district policies and the curriculum. Some things changed over three years, but Lee quickly adapted.

"She's very quiet. A quiet leader, very willing to help anybody, any child," Morris says. "She'll do things anonymously, which is wonderful."

Lee co-teaches with Jennifer Van Gorden. She's there to help with the mainstreamed special education students, though she also works with the others, too. Truth be told, in most instances, only Lee and Van Gorden can tell who fits which category.

Van Gorden says it's a successful match.

"It's great having another set of hands, and having the experience she brings to the classroom," she says. "And the kids love it."

Lee agrees. She had never tried the integrated classroom model before, but she likes the interactions. It helps the kids with special needs adapt better.

After class, Lee heads out with the children for 20 minutes of recess. She doesn't play kickball. Just watches, bottle of water in one hand, books under her arm.

But before she can get to the play area, Lee has an important mission. One of her students needs help getting down the stairs. He's afraid of heights and, to this point, has made the trek himself just once.

Lee cheers as the boy makes it safely to the bottom and bounds off. It's for things like this that she's glad to be back.

Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at solochek@sptimes.com or 813 909-4614. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at blogs.tampabay.com/schools.

[Last modified September 17, 2007, 06:38:58]