SYRACUSE - An elementary music teacher asked the Wawasee school board Tuesday if she could rescind her decision to retire.

Syracuse Elementary teacher Sharron Lantz in June submitted her letter of intent to retire.

The letter resulted from a retirement incentive package offered by Wawasee School Corp.

The package was offered in May to up to 10 teachers and included a $20,000 incentive.

Six teachers - including Lantz - sent in letters of intent to retire.

Lantz told the board last night that she received information about the timing and details of the incentive package on Tuesday and that the vote on her retirement was Tuesday night.

She said she wanted more time to ask questions.

She added that when she sent in her letter, she understood it to be an indication of her interest in the program, not an actual letter of intent to retire.

She said that while she would be comfortable with whatever the board decided, she wondered if she could be removed from the program.

After considerable discussion, the board decided to consider Lantz' retirement separate from the other five teachers who sought the retirement package.

The board approved the retirement of the following:

• David Blackwell, Wawasee Middle School band and choir teacher.

• J. Arleen Corson, Syracuse elementary physical education teacher.

• Ronald D. Corson, Wawasee High School economics teacher.

• William Kitson, Wawasee High School science teacher.

• Phyllis Roberts, North Webster Elementary grade three teacher.

The board then discussed Lantz' situation.

Board member Marion Acton said he called Superintendent Dr. Mark Stock three times to get updates on the status of the retirement incentive package and didn't understand why Lantz couldn't have called with any questions she had.

Brian Dawes said he thought Lantz was suffering from "buyer's remorse."

Jeff Wells moved to accept Lantz' retirement.

Wells, Dawes and Acton voted in favor of the motion. Mary Lou Dixon voted no.

In other action, the board:

• Accepted a donation of $10,000 from the Milford PTO for purchase of playground equipment.

• Heard a report from Stock on Wednesday night activities. Two pastors in the district had asked the school to limit the number of activities scheduled on Wednesday nights so as not to interfere with church activities. Stock reported that of 1,050 formally scheduled events, 40 were on Wednesday. He said teachers and administrators were doing a good job trying to keep Wednesdays open and would continue to do so.

• Approved a $205,000 lease for wide area network towers and equipment to upgrade the existing WAN system. The upgrade is necessary, according to technology director Dave VanLue, because of an increased amount of data being transmitted over the network. The current system is approximately five years old.

• Approved extension of head coaching contracts through the 2004-05 school year for Phil Mishler, boys basketball; Kem Zolman, girls basketball; and Joe Reitveld, football.

• Approved seeking a general obligation bond for unfunded pension obligations. With current low interest rates and using the existing bond payment, the corporation can save $1 million over the life of the new bond.

• Approved employment of Sara Lake as Wawasee High School science teacher, Kim Nguyen as Wawasee Academy science teacher, Robyn Jones as one-year sign language interpreter at Syracuse elementary and Darlene Brazel as cafeteria manager at Wawasee Middle School.

• Approved the transfer at Syracuse Elementary of Schaun Glaser from special education paraprofessional to full-time paraprofessional, and Helen Allen from five-hour special education paraprofessional to five-hour reading paraprofessional.

• Heard a report from Stock on the Wawasee Academy. The academy assisted 23 students this year in completing requirements toward graduation. [[In-content Ad]]