Wenatchee High School will have seven new faces teaching classes next year, and seven familiar faces will be missing from their classrooms and enjoying retirement.

Special education teacher Cinda Boswell, art teacher Marnie Harris, career technology education teacher Ruth Lowe, art teacher Michael McClun, English teacher Beverly McCreary, math teacher Stan Opp, and business education teacher Jean Retallic will all be retiring at the end of the year.

This is a higher number than usual. “It is a lot, it’s a lot for this school this year, and I suspect in the next couple of years you may see some numbers. People get to the age, they’ve been teacher for x number of years and they are at the age where they can retire, so they do,” McCreary said.

“I think if you look at our age bracket, we are all in that age group and it just happens to be quite a few of us,” Harris said.

Although they had a lot of positions to fill, WHS Principal Bob Celebrezze said it was no problem finding plenty of applicants for each. “It’s a very desirable place to live, it’s a great career, they’re coming to a great school that has a really good reputation, and we had no problem finding many applicants for each and every position.”

Business education teacher Loren Brown, math teacher Diane Owen, English teacher Tasha Ritter, art teacher Russell Rummler, and art teacher Steve Priest will replace the retiring teachers next year.

According to Celebrezze, the hiring process is complicated and lengthy. It involves a screening of each applicant’s file, phone references, an interview process, dialogue with the interviewers, a conversation with the personnel director and the superintendent before an offer can even be made.

Retiring is a hard decision, but everyone has to do it at some point. Many teachers said that their reason for deciding to retire this year was that they just felt it was time.

“I feel good and don’t want to be a decrepit old teacher when I retire; I want to leave with some energy,” Retallic said.

“Life is fragile and it sometimes it can be short, my goal is to live until 93 and still know where I’ve parked my car,” Harris said.

Most teachers said that their plans as new retirees are just to relax.

“I just want to kick back, relax, enjoy and do as the spirit moves me,” Harris said.

Although these teachers will no longer be at school daily to advise their students, they still have a lot of advice for students.

“I think the most important thing for a student to understand and know is that if you don’t have a belief in yourself, nobody else will, and you have to be willing to work and put in the time to get what you want out of life, it isn’t easy,” Harris said.

A retirement celebration was held by the teacher union for the friends and family of all retiring Wenatchee School District employees at Pybus Market May 27. Each teacher chose a friend to speak on their behalf.