Muskego Teachers Retire at 3X the Rate of Last Year, Higher Than Numbers in Wisconsin Overall

As school bells rang and classrooms filled up on the first official school day for the Muskego Norway School District (MNSD), a large retirement luncheon of former district employees took place September 1, 2011 at Champs in Brookfield.

Organized by participants and with over 40 retired and ex-employees attending, the event mirrored the mass exodus taking place throughout Wisconsin following Governor Scott Walker’s recent moves in Madison to change laws governing benefits and collective bargaining, according to the Huffington Post. 

Those changes resulted in nearly double the number of Wisconsin teachers retiring in the first six months of 2011, twice the number of retirements each year in all of 2009 and all of 2010, according to Associated Press reports.

Muskego Norway schools fared worse than others in the state:  32 teachers have already retired in 2011, a rate nearly 3X that of 2010, according to School Superintendent Dr. Joe Schroeder.

In addition, many support personnel retired or resigned, including library, guidance and social worker professionals, many of whom were interviewed by Patch at the retirement luncheon.  

Teachers have been hired to replace retirees and maintain classroom sizes and programming in the MNSD, Schroeder said in an email.  He stressed that the district’s goal is to continuously improve through every transition, and believes results over the past few years show the district can continue to do that in the future.

Participants at the retirement luncheon were asked for their parting thoughts on education, the district, and future hopes following their decisions to retire and/or resign.  Here is what they said:

Concerned About Students in Post-Exodus Wisconsin…and Hopeful.

As the MNSD struggled to retain teaching positions due to severe budget cuts coming from the governor’s office in Madison earlier this year, several positions in other areas were targeted or reorganized, according to press reports.  One of these areas was guidance counseling, where positions were eliminated at the elementary level and cut in half at the middle school level, participants said.

Middle school guidance counselor Daryl Mack said he never had dreams about school until his planned retirement in May, 2011.  Now, he wakes up wondering, “Who’s going to take care of this and who’s going to take care of that…and who’s going to understand this family or that family,” Mack said.

Mack’s dream for the future of education is that throughout Wisconsin, people “will care more about the person and the students than they do about test scores,” a concern echoed by other professionals interviewed.

On deep cuts to elementary and middle school guidance programs, former school social worker Joyce Gonis Schmitz said that social/emotional issues are very challenging and factor in on student achievement and the ability to succeed.  Guidance services are among the first to be cut, Gonis Schmitz said, and the impact of removing them will be felt going forward if barriers to learning are not addressed.

Former history teacher Robert Nuszbaum, who retired in 2007, was concerned that the loss of collective bargaining may harm the educational environment.  He believes teachers not only represent themselves through collective bargaining, but also represent the interests of students and parents, and should stay organized as advocates for them.  “They are the professionals in the classroom,” he said. 

Nuszbaum served as chief union negotiator for the district, and said he’s concerned about how teachers can resolve complaints going forward.  For example, he points to teacher planning time, which is rapidly disappearing from teacher schedules.

“Planning time is not for resting, it’s for planning the best lessons possible,” he said.  It takes time to keep up with current events and construct lessons, he said, which impacts the educational experience in the classroom.

Life-Changing Decisions in a Matter of Days

Perhaps one of the hardest aspects of leaving their work for MNSD was having to make a major life decision abruptly, participants said.

Marilyn Moore, formerly a first grade teacher at Mill Valley, said she had to make her decision to retire in the middle of making teaching plans for Fall classes and completing continuing education coursework to renew her teaching license.  The Fall semester of 2011 never happened for Moore.

“When I turned in my letter (of intent to retire), they said “Congratulations.”’ It was a word that was hard to bear at the time, Moore said.  “My heart was breaking… and  I had to make a life-changing decision in 8 days.”

Jean Nelson, a librarian for the elementary schools, said she felt she had just 2 choices when making her decision:  “Retire or get laid off,”  she said.  “There was a strong hint that library staff would get cut,” Nelson said.  “I had planned to work six more years.  I made the decision in a 3-day window,” she said. “I didn’t see a future.”

Moving On for a Number of Reasons

As in every profession, some employees moved on for a number of reasons, personal and professional.   Jill Wauer formerly taught Social Studies at Bay Lane Middle School, and said she had worked with very, very good people, with kids that were great, and parents who were supportive.

But she felt teachers were “put on the spot” for bringing different points of view to the table.”  It was time to look for a more supportive environment, she said.

“There was a lack of respect for the professional opinion of the teacher, and the ability to make professional decisions was at odds with administrative decisions,” she said.  Wauer, who resigned from her MNSD position, is moving on to enjoy her grandchildren and expects to resume her teaching career in the future.

Nuszbaum, too, left the district for a number of reasons when he retired in 2007.  “I would still be teaching if not for peripheral things that culminated in this attack on teachers and their profession,” he said. 

Non-teachers worried about recent changes in the public perception of teachers.  For example, Gonis Schmitz said “When did we get to be public enemy #1?  I think teachers are the most noble of professions – when they get called prima donnas and bullies it makes me sad.  This is a profession that should be respected and revered.“

Starting Their New Lives, and Enjoying their Freedom

Even though many attending the luncheon would have liked to keep working for a number of years within the district,  there is no shortage of enthusiasm among them for what the next few years may bring.

“I’m relaxed, my blood pressure is lower, and it’s really nice to do what I want to when I want to do it,” said Linda Bernards-Idvikowski , formerly a FACE teacher at Bay Lane Middle School.  She walked through the retirement window the district reopened to allow attrition to minimize layoffs.

“I would have stayed if not for the unrest in Madison,” she said, and is looking forward to being a grandmother.

Nuszbaum too, is enjoying his retirement.  “I read a lot, and stay connected with retired and employed colleagues,” he said. “Muskego is a good district, with good people,” Nuszbaum said, and he hopes educators will continue to pride themselves on being the best they can be going forward.