The News-Journal

Daytona Beach, Florida

Monday, June 23, 1997

Education Writer

Two of DeLand High School’s three chemistry teachers won’t be back on campus when classes resume in August. Bonnie Coolidge and Michael Nave retired this month under an incentive plan that offered veteran school district employees bonuses, health insurance benefits and tax savings. Coolidge had planned to teach until 2000 but found the incentives too good to pass up. Nave, who planned to retire this year anyway, said the incentive plan "pushed me over the edge."

The final count is still being confirmed but about 300 of 1,800 eligible employees signed up for the incentive program by its June 5 deadline. That’s about twice the school district’s normal number of retirees in a given year. "The impact is yet to be seen," said Superintendent Bill Hall. "Certainly we are losing a number of employees who have given many years of dedicated and quality service to the school district. Replacing them is going to be a challenge for us. That’s the down side."

"On the other side, if we’ve been doing our job as leaders we have quality people waiting in the wings to move into those positions, and I think we do," Hall said. Retiring Hurst Elementary School Principal Paul Finn agreed. "For my own ego, I would like to think they’re going to miss me, but this time next year this place will be running just as efficiently," Finn said. Finn and School Board Chairman Jeff Timko noted the retirements will mean promotions for some and new jobs for others.

Local principals began looking for new teachers at a job fair Friday at Deltona’s Pine Ridge High School. About 350 applicants were expected to attend.   "We’re trying to meet the needs that are there suddenly," said Al Boule, director of recruitment and equity for Volusia schools. "At least we have a good pool of applicants." Some jobs, such as the chemistry posts at DeLand High, are expected to be harder to fill than others because there are fewer qualified applicants available.

Officials of the three unions that represent school district employees have been pushing for an early retirement plan for several years. The "voluntary separation program" approved by the School Board in March was an outgrowth of those talk. Employees don’t have to be eligible for state retirement benefits to participate. "It’s kind of a double-edge sword for us. It’s something the teachers have really wanted, but when we finally got it we lost a lot of good teachers, and a lot of them are members," said Suzy Smith, president of the Volusia Teachers Organization.

Free health insurance for the next eight years and school district help with taxes on the incentives were among the most popular components, according to interviews with randomly selected employees who opted to participate.

The school district expects significant cost savings from the program, primarily from replacing veteran employees at the top of the pay scale with less experienced ones who will earn less. Preliminary projections peg the savings for the budget year that will begin July 1 at between $100000 and $200,000, said Assistant Superintendent Art Cunkle. Annual savings of at least $1 million are projected for seven years after that. While some of the participating employees had planned to retire this year anyway, others decided to leave their jobs earlier than expected because of the incentives.

Teachers Carolyn and Cary Holland, both in their early 50s, re-examined their personal goals in view of the incentive package.  "It made us stop and think where we were in our lives," Mrs. Holland said.  Her father died a year after retiring at 65, a pattern she and her husband didn’t want to repeat. With their two sons now grown, the Hollands decided to retire this year and take time for things they’ve long wanted to do—such as making a trip to Alaska. While the School District will lose the expertise of many veteran employees, Timko said it will benefit from the enthusiasm of newly hired workers. "It’s healthy for a system to have turnover with new employees who are younger, energetic and looking forward to their careers," Timko said. n