Long-time faculty and staff at Haleyville City Schools retiring

HALEYVILLE - Long-time personnel who are retiring from Haleyville City Schools at the end of the school year have at least 120 years of combined experience, according to HCS Superintendent Dr. Holly Sutherland.
Retirements approved at the Monday, March 17, Haleyville Board of Education meeting included Jerry Corsbie as elementary school custodian, effective July 1; Amy Farris as elementary school special education teacher, effective June 1; Jennifer Russell as elementary school kindergarten teacher, effective July 1;
Neina Middleton as Center of Technology teacher, effective July 1 and Denise Banks as Center of Technology counselor, effective June 1.
The resignation of Brooke Yarbrough as elementary school gifted teacher, effective July 31, was also approved by the school board.
“We will miss them. We wish them the best in the next chapter of their lives,” Sutherland said. “It is hard to replace experience.  They have brought experience from business education to regular education to special education.  Those are always hard positions to replace.”
Despite the losses to the school system, officials must move forward with a plan of filling those voids, Sutherland continued.
“It’s always a struggle in a teacher shortage to find qualified applicants to fill some of those positions that are unique, like special education, business education, those kinds of things,” Sutherland said.
“We have a great administrative team.  Once we know someone could possibly be retiring, we are already putting plans in the works for trying to put someone in those positions that could do an equally good job or could work hard to get to where those retirees are,” Sutherland continued.