Former science teacher William Poznanski retired suddenly from the district Friday, November 30, after 36 years of teaching in the district. The district hopes to have a replacement teaching upon return from winter break.

"He decided, and the district agreed, that now was the time for him to retire," said Dr. Arthur Anderson, president of the teachers union and school psychologist.

“None of us knew a thing,” said William Haury, SIS Dean of Students. He and Poznanski both biked to school every day, and would change together in the mornings. "We talked every morning,” Haury said. “He never said a word.”

Because of the nature of the situation, administrators could not comment on details, and teachers were instructed to direct all questions to Anderson. Multiple attempts to contact Poznanski were not successful, and Anderson promptly requested that all attempts be halted. "He's retired now, and he wants his privacy,” Anderson said. “It was his request."

Anderson said Poznanski approached him and said he wished to retire early, and Anderson assisted him in doing so. Anderson said he did not know why Poznanski wanted to retire. When asked to clarify whether he did not know, or could not comment, he said he did not know. "After 34 years of teaching, you should have the right to retire when you choose," he said.

He said he then acted as an “intermediary” between Poznanski and superintendent Dr. Blane McCann to settle the retirement agreement. The retirement then had to be approved by the school board.

When asked if Poznanski left on good terms, McCann responded, “Yeah, I suppose so.”

McCann said as long as he has been superintendent a teacher has never retired mid-semester. "We would like people to retire at the end of the year,” he said, “but there are instances where that doesn't work out."

To retire in Shorewood, a teacher must be 57 years old, and have taught 15 years in the district. Poznanski was old enough, and had taught 36 full years in Shorewood. This year would have been his 37th.

As of last week, SHS Assistant Principal Tim Kenney and SIS Principal Anthony Strancke were still seeking a replacement. Kenney guessed nineteen teachers applied for the position. Kenney contacted five of them to set up interviews, and had received confirmation from two. “We're moving on it pretty quickly,” he said. Kenney said they are looking for experience in teaching earth science, life science, and integrated science, and hoped the candidate would have at least five years of teaching experience.

Until a replacement is found, science teacher Paul Piering is teaching his high school classes, and Tyrell has his middle school classes.

"Mr. Kenney notified me that I would need to teach Mr. Poz’s classes about four days prior to the Monday that I began teaching his classes," Piering said, in an email interview.

Piering, who had shared a classroom with Poznanski, said, "Mr. Poz was an endearing individual who has done a lot of living in his life. His wealth of experiences made him an interesting conversationalist in the hours we spent talking after school. That man is what some people call 'the salt of the earth."

On Poznanski's last day, Anderson attended all of his classes. Anderson said Poznanski taught for most of the hour, leaving 15 minutes at the end to discuss his leaving. "Instruction was emphasized till the end,” Anderson said.

Anderson said he attended the classes, not as president of the teachers union, but as school psychologist. “I wear different hats,” he said. “I was there because sometimes students might be upset since it's such a sudden change… I talked to a few of them after class, who were concerned about him leaving. He has a lot of students who think very highly of him."

In the last fifteen minutes, Anderson said, “he wanted to let them know that he requested early retirement and that he would be allowed to retire. He left time for questions, so that pretty much took up the whole time."

Anderson said the students “wanted to know why he was leaving, and why it was so sudden." Anderson said Poznanski responded by saying “he wanted to retire early, and the school board agreed. Some students might be trying to read into that statement, but that would be wrong… There really isn't a story here."

Poznanski notified the SIS staff of his leaving the same day he left. “He was the funniest I've ever seen him. Mr. Poz is a very guarded person, but on Friday, he figured, hey, I'm gonna have some fun… For example, Ms. Ruiz said, ‘We’ll miss you, and I hope we can come visit you in Hawaii.' And he said, ‘Well I hope you do come, because I'd love to see you in a bikini.’ He was on a roll.” When asked if Poznanski expressed any regret, Haury said, “There was no regret.”

Haury said the last time he saw Poznanski was the following Saturday. He said every Saturday morning, Poznanski would be in his classroom planning lessons for the following week. “The light would be under his door, and we’d talk,” Haury said. “He was always conscientious, always prepared.”

The Saturday after his leaving was no different. Haury found Poznasnki in his classroom planning lessons for the substitute to carry out. Haury didn’t ask him why he was leaving. “I figured, if he didn’t tell us that Friday, I wasn’t going to ask. I wanted to respect his privacy. I told him how much I admired him, and how much I would miss him. And I missed him right away the next week, because it was just me in the morning. We would usually listen to NPR, and he would comment and go on one of his tangents about something, and it would spur discussion.”

Piering said Poznanski did give him teaching materials, as well as a note which said he could call him if he needed anything. "But," he said, "due to the fact that I am now teaching every hour of the school day, I haven’t had time to give him a call yet."

“He's going to be very missed,” said Kristen Johnson, SIS teacher. “He is such a unique character.” She said there had been no indication he was unhappy teaching. “He said to me that every day when he was a teacher, he looked forward to coming to school." However, she also said they hadn’t had much interaction. “He's been so busy between the two schools that I haven't really talked to him much. He's very collegial to everyone, but he is very private.”

Freshman Anne Kipcak said,“He knew everything there was to know about basically everything...It seemed like he was more than a science teacher.”

Freshman Mac Gallager also appreciated his method of teaching, as well as his classroom attitude, saying, “Mr Poz was a fun guy. He wasn’t too serious.”

Freshman Oscar Faust said that on his last day, Mr. Poz “was kind of, not himself. He seemed sad.”

Some students were upset with the way in which Poznanski left. "I think that it was very poorly handled," Kipcak said.

Haury said, "When someone's gone, and it's unexpected, there's this vacuum. And that's what's happening. He was the patriarch of this school."

See article about Poznanski's replacement.