The announced retirement plans by Schools Superintendent Tom Lawrence apparently took a lot of people by surprise – including us.

And – just to make it perfectly clear after our error-prone headline last week – Lawrence is indeed “retiring” from Fountain Hills Unified School District No. 98 and not “resigning.”

There is a big difference, after all, especially with the rough 2014 that Lawrence experienced given the controversial firing of veteran teacher Pam Aister (and subsequent lawsuit), resignation of high school teacher Christie Slegers over questions about her teaching and Olympic credentials and the still declining student enrollment numbers.

Many educators, School Board members, parents and students have come to know the soft-spoken “Mr. Lawrence” over the decades, chalking up 28 years in the district. He started out as a teacher and worked his way up through the ranks as principal of two school sites and, ultimately, as superintendent for three years.

At age 53, Lawrence certainly still has his future ahead of him. As he told reporter Ryan Winslett, “This has been part of my life plan. I’m eligible for retirement and I think I’m young enough to explore other options and reassess. It’s a good thing.”

Lawrence, like the retired McDowell Mountain Elementary School Principal Joanne Meehan, has seen many positives and negatives in Fountain Hills and the education field over these decades. It’s no secret the education field is a tough one – dealing with politics, parents, up-and-down budgets, elections, etc.

Lawrence’s calm demeanor has served the district well over the years, and he leaves the district at a precarious time. But others will step up, just as he did during his Fountain Hills career. We wish him well in his future endeavors – we can’t see him eating bonbons on the couch watching daytime soaps – and we thank him for his dedication to educating the young people of our town all these many years.