MINOCQUA – After more than four decades in education -- first as a teacher and most recently as district administrator at Lakeland Union High School -- Jim Bouché is eyeing retirement.
The official announcement came at Monday’s school board meeting. He currently serves as administrator on a part-time basis. His official retirement date is July 1 of next year. His last employment contract that he helped craft reduced his duties as administrator/principal to that of a part-time administrator.
“I wrote it in the contract that if I’m going to pull out, I’ll pull out in December. And I did a lot of thinking and praying and discussing with my wife and thought this is a good time to transition.”
He reflects on those four plus decades in the classroom and administration.
"I gotta say it’s a bittersweet thing because this is my life. I’ve been an educator in the classroom for 20 years. This is 21 and a half years, at the end it will 22 years as administrator: (first) as dean of students, assistant principal, administrator in charge of special ed, administrator in charge of technology in a large high school, principal here, superintendent. I’ve done the gamut.”
What does the future hold for Bouché?
“I’m not sure. I’ve gotta a lot of things that I would like to do. I would love to go and be an adjunct professor at the university level. I would love to help educate future educators coming into the world of high school education, grade school education. I thought about that. My mantra has been technology-enhanced education with the human touch, and so I’m thinking possibly doing something with technology in the classroom. There’s possibility of consulting. We have done so many different things that I have learned from, to share those ideas like ACT 32 and HVAC turnover that we did here at LUHS. So there’s a lot of things that I’m thinking I could share, the pitfalls as well as the positives.”
Going forward, the 64-year-old Bouche says he believes the four independent elementary schools and the high school should consolidate into one district rather than a unified district as is now. There would be one superintendent with five building principals. He says the result would be cost savings ranging from purchasing to busing, with better academic outcomes for students.
The school board has not officially started a search for Bouché’s replacement
