Teachers torn as retirement looms: Muskegon leads pack with 46 retirees | MLive.com

Teachers torn as retirement looms: Muskegon leads pack with 46 retirees | MLive.com

Teachers torn as retirement looms: Muskegon leads pack with 46 retirees

Published: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 6:18 AM Updated: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 7:45 AM

Lynn Moore | The Muskegon Chronicle
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Chronicle/Ken StevensMuskegon High School teacher Marsha Marek, 53, composes herself when it was her turn to address fellow teachers and staff during a farewell brunch at the school last Thursday, the last day for teachers. "This is the last day I can wear this shirt legally," she said of her Muskegon staff shirt. She is a 1975 Muskegon High graduate and was one of 46 teachers — 13 percent of the teaching staff — who retired from Muskegon Public Schools.

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When Marsha Marek was in the throes of deciding whether to take the state’s retirement incentive for teachers, she turned to one of the core Democratic values she taught at Muskegon High: the common good.

At age 53, Marek wasn’t ready to retire. She loved her job as a special education teacher and felt like she had “so much more to offer.” But she knew of young teachers who were facing layoffs. Her husband also is retired and the idea of spending more time together was appealing to Marek.

So late last week, she said her teary goodbyes to colleagues and joined the ranks of teachers taking the state up on its retirement incentive.

“I wanted to stay, selfishly, for me,” Marek said. “That would not have been the best decision for everyone else concerned. It wouldn’t have been the best for the younger teachers who got pink-slipped, it wouldn’t have been good for my family, financially.”

The state incentive, which combined the “carrot” of a higher pension and the “stick” of a higher payroll deduction for those who didn’t retire, was approved in mid-May for teachers with combined age and years of service totaling 80.

The idea was to save cash-strapped districts money by replacing higher-paid senior teachers with new ones at the lower end of the pay scale. The hope was that it also would open up job