Schneider to retire after 41-year career as educator

By Molly Roberts
Posted 3/8/22

“Nothing gives me greater joy than to walk down a hallway and have the students call me by name, because it means that I’ve had an influence on them,” said Mid-Prairie …

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Schneider to retire after 41-year career as educator

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“Nothing gives me greater joy than to walk down a hallway and have the students call me by name, because it means that I’ve had an influence on them,” said Mid-Prairie Superintendent Mark Schneider, who announced his impending retirement this week. Schneider has been an educator for 41 years, including 34 years in the Mid-Prairie district.

Schneider first worked for Mid-Prairie as a student teacher, working with Marlene Gaston.

“If it wasn’t for her, I would not be in education,” he said.

After Schneider’s student teaching gig at Mid-Prairie, he transitioned to a position at Brighton Elementary, part of the Washington School District, where he taught for seven years before returning to Mid-Prairie.

“I just fell in love with the district and even as a student teacher, it just felt right,” Schneider said. “It felt like I found the school district that shared the same values and beliefs that I had. My first job was elsewhere, but when I had the opportunity to come back, I applied and fortunately was hired back as a teacher. This community shares my values and beliefs. It has been such a good fit.”

Schneider took time away from Mid-Prairie to seek further education, but once he returned to Mid-Prairie as an elementary principal, he’s stayed with the district ever since.

Schneider has been known as a leader who has been very involved with the students in the Mid-Prairie district.

“To me, that’s the most important part of my job. I’m here for the students,” Schneider said. “I go to these superintendent conferences or school board conferences, and they have all these breakout sessions about superintendent-school board relationships – and obviously, that is important — but I’ve always considered myself not really working for the school board. They hire me and fire me, but I’ve always viewed it that I work for the students. I want to get to know the people that I really work for. It’s always been important for me to get into the classroom and read to elementary students, it’s always been important for me to get to their activities and to go to graduation parties. I’m here to serve them, that’s my main purpose, to serve the students.”

Schneider said the recent failure of the district’s bond referendum influenced his decision to retire at the end of this school year, effective June 30, 2022.

“If the bond referendum would have passed, there would have been a lot of work to issue the bonds, there would have been a lot of work to pull groups of people together to design the different projects, there would have been a lot to do to work with the construction manager to phase the work and put out the bids and figure out what’s going to be done when,” Schneider said. “Had the bond issue passed, I probably would have stayed on another year just to get it going. But with the bond issue not passing, it just seemed like the time was right for someone else to come in and give a fresh perspective in the district.”

Schneider said he has no plans to disappear, however.

“I’m not going away,” he said. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this community. It is a community that matches my values and beliefs, so I will be a resident, I will be a property taxpayer, I will be a Mid-Prairie supporter for as long as I live.”

Schneider said he looks forward to spending time with his family in his retirement and that his family has made many sacrifices over the years due to his position as superintendent. But Schneider said he feels blessed to have been a part of the Mid-Prairie community for as long as he has.

“A lot of people talk about work-life balance, but I don’t view life that way because I don’t look at work as separate from life,” Schneider said. “Work is part of life and life is part of work. I’ve always tried to enjoy life and I will continue to enjoy life, no matter what it is I’m doing.”