Waseca Public Schools has five retirees this summer, and two of them were present at the Waseca Education Association banquet Thursday night, May 30 at The Mill.
Waseca Dean of Students Jake Nelson introduced retiree Deb Wobschall and Waseca's Developmental Cognitive Disability(DCD) Teacher Luann Ross introduced retiree Sharon Becker.
The other retirees were Bluejay Academy Teacher Laurie Putze, First Grade teacher Jodi Miller, and Waseca's Special Education Case Facilitator Diane Roesler.
Nelson described Wobschall's career in his introduction. She retired from being the district's school nurse for 23 years in October and was a nurse in Rochester and Owatonna before that.
Nelson brought up how crucial Wobschall was in getting the district through the COVID pandemic.
"Many of you do not understand what a difference Deb Wobschall made to our district during COVID," Nelson said. "Deb didn't take a day off."
"I can't even begin to imagine how many hours she spent on Zoom meetings and calls and trying to to navigate the new guidance so she could get our kids back into school as safe and as soon as possible," Nelson continued.
Nelson also brought up how Wobschall took a pay cut to come work for the district. While she loved working at the hospital, the hours were taking away from her spending time with her family.
"The reason I left hospital nursing was because of the hours," Wobschall said at the banquet. "They stink. Weekends, holidays, nights, and so the school job was perfect when that opened up. But the reason I stayed at school was because of you guys and the kids. It's the relationships, that's what kept me there."
Sharon Becker retired after six years with the district and 25 total years in education. She was a paraprofessional and had a lot of roles with the district.
"In the past six years, she has worn many hats from being a para, nurse, referee, gum scraper, library duster, locker cleaner, and that's just to name a few Ross said in her introduction of Becker.
"Thank you so much for letting me be a part of the Bluejay family," Becker said in her retirement speech.
Recognition
Educators and staff who have worked for the district for a significant amount of years were also honored at the banquet. Fifth-grade Teacher Lori Harris and Kindergarten Teacher Kari Zafft were both honored for their 35 years in the district.
"Stick with it, it's worth it, our kids need it," Harris said to her fellow educators after being honored.
Student School Board Representative Addison Wieseler was also recognized at the banquet, although she was unable to attend.
"This role is a two year commitment beginning at the start of the representative's junior year and lasting their senior year," Waseca English Teacher Karen Pfarr Anderson said about the position. "We would like to thank Addison Wieseler this evening for managing to fit it into her already extremely busy schedule."
Wieseler will be attending Occidental College in Los Angeles in the fall and is considering a future in law or journalism.
Anderson along with Hartley Elementary Student Success Coordinator Jacque Karaus were the masters of ceremony for the banquet ceremony.
"We feel strongly that people who continue to do this difficult job deserve recognition and at the minimum a shoutout for continuing to be dedicated to one of the most difficult professions in the world," Anderson said in their opening address.
Throughout the night, Anderson and Karaus thanked the WEA negotiators and representatives for all the hard work they have done this year fighting for pension reform. They especially thanked WEA Co-President Craig Brenden, as this is his tenth and last year serving on the WEA executive board.
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