Supt. Schmidt Announces Retirement

By Teresa Rochester

In a stunning move -- long-rumored but not expected -- School Superintendent Neil Schmidt announced his retirement Wednesday afternoon.

In a letter sent to Board of Education members and local media, Schmidt said he will leave his post in June 2001.

"I know, when the time comes, I will find it very difficult to leave a profession that I admire and enjoy as much as I do working with staff, students and parents in places called school," wrote Schmidt. "I have always been in complete awe of the responsibility and challenges we face as educators and as a community to ensure that every child participates and thrives in schools."

In an interview Tuesday, with The Lookout, Schmidt would not confirm nor deny rumors that he was planning on leaving the position he has held for seven years. In his letter he stated that he was planning on announcing his retirement at the board's meeting on June 1 or 14. In his statement Schmidt said he feared the community would find out his decision through the media.

"I wanted you to hear this from me, personally, rather than to read it in the newspaper," Schmidt said. " It has been my great honor to work with you since 1992 when I was appointed Superintendent of the District. For me, I have the pleasure of continuing to work with staff, students and parents through the coming school year."

"There's some important challenges and decisions that remain," Schmidt said Wednesday afternoon after making his announcement. "There's been a lot of acknowledgement for the fine work we have done and that's fine but there's still more to do."

The superintendent wrote that his future plans "will find me toiling in the soil of my avocado orchard and teaching at UCLA."

Schmidt told the Lookout on Tuesday that he had spent part of this year's two-week spring break working on the orchard's irrigation system. The son of ranchers, Schmidt said his fledgling orchard, in the Santa Clarita Valley, sits on eight acres and will boast 600 trees.

Schmidt also will move back into the classroom, teaching classes on education administration at UCLA -- a job he was asked to do this year but turned down due to the rigors of his current schedule.

Schmidt will publicly announce his retirement at the Board of Education's meeting on June 1.