By Caleb Elliott and Gaige Winchester
Becoming acclimated with retirement isn’t always easy. Most find a hobby or spend more time with family or friends.
Mr. Todd Trehearne and Mr. Kip Omstead, two retired teachers from Delta High School, were trying to do just this when they received a familiar phone call.
This phone call was from principal Mr. Chris Conley, asking them to start the school year teaching at Delta again.
Before Trehearne retired, he made sure to tell Conley that if he were to ever need him, just to call.
This year, Dr. Lance Brand, a former science teacher, decided to take on a new role being the assistant director of technology. After he left, Mr. Adam Lennon was slated to move into his room and teach higher level science classes, leaving a biology opening.
When Trehearne received the call, however, he only agreed to return for one semester as his wife had just retired and he wanted to spend time with her.
As for now, he’s all in on teaching biology. He said what he loves most about being in the classroom is interacting with students.
“I tried to build relationships even when I was subbing,” Trehearne said. “When you’re teaching, however, there’s just a flow.”
The other teacher who returned this semester was former English teacher Mr. Omstead. He previously taught senior English at the high school for more than 40 years, but has changed to teaching freshmen this year.
“I think it will be different,” Omstead said. “The ninth graders act like freshmen, but that’s not their fault. They just have to be taught differently.”
When Omstead received the call to come back and teach it was a no-brainer. “It’ll be nice seeing all of the faculty again,” Omstead said. “The secretaries are wonderful; they run the whole show.”
For now, Omstead is set to only fill in for English teacher Mrs. Taylor Lennon, who is currently on maternity leave, for the first nine weeks. In the meantime, Omstead is trying to soak it all in before she returns.
“It was what I did here for 42 years, and I kind of missed it. As I get older my brain starts to age, and I’d like to keep it fresh,” Omstead said. ”I’d also like to use the money to do nice things for my granddaughter.”
Conley believed what separated these candidates from the others was the quality and familiarity of these teachers. With both Trehearne and Omstead being in the building the last couple of years subbing has helped them stay in the loop.
“The fact that they are good at what they do, are very familiar with us, and were willing to come back made it an easy decision for us,” Conley said.
