Having worked for 34 years at Elgin Public Schools, this will be the last year for preschool/special education teacher Sue Vanis.
The District #18 Board of Education Wednesday night accepted with regret, an application submitted by her to take an early retirement offer.
In recent years the school district has offered two early retirement packages this year. Only one teacher (Vanis) applied for the package.
According to Superintendent Mike Brockhaus, her early retirement package will be just short of $32,000. He said the money is not paid out until the retiree submits a claim.
Board President Lisa Welding expressed her thanks for Vanis’ commitment and years of service to Elgin Public Board member Steve Busteed expressed the feelings of other board members when he said, “She will be missed.” Another board member, Todd Heithoff, noted “she’s done a lot of good work for a lot of years.”
An open house will be held for Vanis in May.
On a lighter note, the board said the hardest part of Vanis’ retirement will be finding someone to handle all things associated with the concession stand.
New teacher hired
Earlier in the meeting, Taylor Sanne was hired as a new teacher. She is qualified to teach special education and also has an early childhood degree, Brockhaus said. Due to that, he said the school has some flexibility in the hiring process.
Currently she is student teaching at the school, now in the kindergarten classroom. In March, she will work with special education, he said.
Ms. Sanne, from Clearwater, was hired to fill the special ed position which came open when Gabrielle Williams submitted her resignation, effective at the end of the 2022/23 school year.
