Have you heard the news? Mr. and Mrs. Bailey are going into retirement! Mr. Bailey has been here for 25 years, and Mrs. Bailey has been here for 37. Not only that, but Mr. Bailey has been teaching for 37 years, and Mrs. Bailey for a whole 40 years! That is a long time teaching. Knowing this, it is sad to see them go, since they have both been members of FCHS for a long while. With this news, it begs a couple of questions, like why, and what will they be up to when they’re gone? Well, I have some answers for you! I interviewed Mr. Bailey and asked him some questions about his retirement, and here is what he said.
The first question that was asked was, “What made you realize it was time to retire?” because it is known that Mr. Bailey has been a teacher for a long time. Mr. Bailey replied with, “I found that I was wanting to take care of my parents more, and wanting to see grandchildren.”
No more work sounds like a dream! So another question that came up was, “What are you most looking forward to?” Mr. Bailey’s response was, “Looking forward to not grading papers and essays, that sort of thing. Looking forward to being able to visit people in the middle of the week, you know? not always on the weekends.”
As said before, Mr. Bailey has taught for a while and has been a member of the FCHS teaching staff for quite a while. Which is why “What was your favorite thing about teaching our students at FCHS?” was asked. Mr. Bailey responded with, “I think watching students learn, teaching concept, and seeing the light bulb click on. That is just really cool. I appreciate students who work hard to try to comprehend. Just appreciate the way they make the effort to learn.”
Having a lot of years under your belt gives you a lot of time to learn from your mistakes and grow as a person, which begs the question, “Is there anything you would do differently?” Mr. Bailey said, “Yes and no. I would probably, if I could pull back some of the emails I sent. To colleagues, I had always been forgiven, and I had apologized when I realized that they were the wrong thing to do. I would take some of those back, and never would’ve written them.”
Mr. Bailey has been a beloved teacher for many years, and it is sad to see him go. Not only is Mr. Bailey a great teacher, but Mrs. Bailey is a great teacher too. Her passion seeps into every day, and it is clear that she loves what she does, and she treats students with incredible respect. Since Mrs. Bailey wasn’t interviewed, you can always ask her questions about her reasons for going. It is sad that they are leaving, but it is good to know that they will be spending time with family and enjoying the time that they have with each other. This retirement is well deserved, with the amount of time they have spent teaching and helping students succeed in their future. They will be missed, and FCHS wishes them luck in their future together.
