Why Retire?

A few years ago, retirement was far from my mind. I enjoyed my job at a good school and had the respect of peers and supervisors. Then in July 2005 a new principal was hired. This principal was unethical, dishonest and created a school climate of mistrust, paranoia and vindictiveness. For two years, I and many other adminstrators and teachers told Fort Wayne Community School district leaders that this principal was incompetent. These voices went unheeded and, instead, this principal's bullying behavior and dishonesty was tolerated. At least thirty employees left the school during that time. While most were glad to get the heck out of Dodge, leaving for most was bittersweet since leaving was not on one's own terms. Finally, almost predictably, an incident so embarrassing to the FWCS district occurred and this principal was forced to resign in the fall of 2007. A FWCS district official said the incident was "further proof that [the principal] was incapable of performing her duties as a principal". Hellooooo ... no surprise to most of us who had worked there, we had been saying that for two years.

I have lost respect for our Fort Wayne district leadership. They either wanted this principal to behave the way she did or they did not care. I am not sure which is more disturbing. Time to retire.

I will chronical a few examples of bizarre behavior.