I notified the personnel office that I am taking the retirement buyout and retiring from my current position as a teacher in a Maryland school system, effective the end of this school year.
I am doing so without knowing what I will be doing next year, and knowing that I will still need some income, albeit not as much as my current teacher salary – after all, I am already on Social Security and will also draw a state pension.
I have begun to explore other opportunities.
Some could have me in a classroom elsewhere, most would not.
Some might mean that my blogging would either be greatly reduced or even elimated.
Whatever I do it will be something where I believe I am serving the larger community in a way with which I feel comfortable.
Perhaps a little scary, to make such a decision as I approach my 66th birthday, which limits some possibilities for future employment, especially knowing that I could keep my current teacher post for at least a few more years.
I said a long time ago that if I could not teach with the integrity I felt I needed, I should not teach.
I am not enjoying teaching this year. The reasons that contribute to that will not change between now and next August.
My school can move to train others to pick up my responsibilities. The schedule can be rationalized more easily now.
And me? If I am no longer a classroom teacher, will I still be teacherken?
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