Several Greenfield, Whitnall Teachers Among Nearly 5,000 Who Recently Retired

UPDATED AT 10:20 A.M. THURSDAY WITH GREENFIELD'S NUMBERS.

Thursday's first day of school will be the first school year "opening day" spent away from a classroom for a record number of retired teachers, according to a recent report.

It was reported by the Associated Press on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website that 4,935 school district employees retired in the first half of 2011 before a new law required them contribute more for benefits and took away most of their collective bargaining rights.

According to the story, 2010 retirements totaled 2,527 in 2010 and 2,417 in 2009. So, in 2009 and 2010 combined, there were just nine more retirements than there were from January to July of 2011.

According to Whitnall Superintendent Lowell Holtz, 14 teachers from the retired following the 2010-11 school year, a number he said was “more than usual.

"Across the entire state, the number was a lot higher," he said. "The people that had earned their retirement wanted to make sure they didn’t lose anything."

All 14 of those positions, according to Holtz, were filled.

Greenfield Superintendent Conrad Farner said the  experienced 24 district-wide retirements, 17 of which were teachers.

"Some were retiring regardless of Act 10, others retired because of Act 10 ... difficult for me to say which are which," Farner said in an email. "Definitely more than typical, but we have wide fluctuations from year to year, so not necessarily that many more than other 'higher' years ... perhaps 6-10 over a usual higher year."