With the school year coming to a close, and the seniors moving on to a new chapter in their lives, teachers Mr. Warner and Mr. Florence will be retiring and moving on to a new phase in their lives as well.
Mr. Warner has been teaching for thirty-six years, with twenty-six of those at West Side. From 1976 to when he came here in 1986, he taught at several schools across the state, including North Putnam High School, Darlington Middle School and Fountain Central. In addition to the middle and high school math classes he has always taught, he has also previously been a teacher of computer programming and computer applications.
When asked what he’s going to miss the most about teaching, Mr. Warner said “When you have a job like this for 25 or 30 or 36 years, you stick around because you love the students. You like interacting with them and watching them grow up.” He added that there are faculty members, both current and former, that have become his lifelong friends and people he will still keep in touch with. “There’s a closeness among the staff here that’s different than other schools,” he said.
As to what he’s planning to do with all this new-found time, he said “My wife [former English teacher Mrs. Warner who retired last year] and I are planning a big trip this fall, right around the time school starts.  Instead of going back to work, we’re going on vacation.” They plan to explore the Canadian Rockies and the US Northwest.” He is also considering teaching a Statistics class at Purdue in the spring.
Mr. Florence, the technical education teacher and robotics team coach, will be retiring after having been here for twenty-three years.  After receiving his degree from Ball State University, Mr. Florence taught in Brownsburg and Crawfordsville for eight years before coming to West Side in 1989.
He says helping his students grow into young adults is what he’ll miss the most about teaching, but also agrees with Mr. Warner that this school is unique for its closeness among the staff.
Mr. Florence will still continue to be involved with the school by helping launch the new technical education/engineering program and coaching the robotics team until another coach is found. He said he’d also like another part-time job to stay busy. “I don’t do well with sitting still,” he laughed.
He is also going to continue pursuing his passion of construction and carpentry work. “[Building] is therapeutic in a way, and whenever you finish a project you have a sense of closure,” he said. “The only closure you can ever have with teaching is retirement.”