Ex-principal Enjoys Retirement Plans Move To Arizona

Former Ann Arbor High School Principal Nicholas Schreiber, 61, is enjoying his retirement from the Ann Arbor school system to the fullest. "I even have time how to read the newspapers leisurely," he said happily. Starting in June, however, the veteran educator will begin savoring his retirement years in Sun City, Ariz. "We always feit Ann Arbor was our home, and after nearly 33 years here, we didn't think there was any other place to live," Schreiber explained. But because of Schreiber's bronchial asthma, his physician ruled otherwise and advised moving to a warm, dry climate. After traveling in Florida and Arizona this winter, searching for the right spot to move, Schreiber and his wife, Margaret, decided on Arizona's Sun City, a growing retirement community just 12 miles from Phoenix. The Schreibers expect to move west in June. "But I'm sure we'll be returning to Ann Arbor often for visits," the veteran principal remarked. "Our family and friends are here." ' Schreiber, who retired last June after 22 years as principal of Ann Arbor High and after 32 years with the Ann Arbor School System, is looking forward to settling in Sun City- a place which he says is a "beehive -of activ-ity." "You can either be a recluse there or involved in everything" (including scores of clubs and other activities), Schreiber commented. "I think Pil be somewhere in-between." Schreiber, looking tanned and fit after a winter in sunnier climes, said he will continue to be fully retired in Arizona- "retired with an exclamation point." He revealed he has rejected a number of full and part-time job offers in the -past eight months: "I feel I have given all I have to give," he commented. He also has no regréts about his retirément, which .took place a year earlier than had been anticipated. 'lI woúld Urge all teachers and administrators to retire at the earliest possible agë," he declared. . "It takes younger people to viommunicate with young people today. People )i 55 and 60 are of an entirely different generation." "Besides," Schreiber continued, "I have always thought a príncipaisWp is a young man's job because of the demands. That job is almost like being a priest. You have almost; no social Ufe and no time for your family. You must be married to the job." ï After about eight months of I traveling, the long-time educator bell evalúate the Ann Arbor School Sysj years at the high school with a ' j perspective." 3 He has. not officially visited AAI lelt in June: In f act, he has "purrf away. I think it's better I'm not arol (President) Johnson- let the new al handle it." j Nevertheless, he has some defij on the school system and his years j of Ann Arbor High. ] On the whole, he feels the Ann I System is "even better than I thoij After visiting schools in a numhl states, he considers Ann Arbor High of many of the other "better" higl the country. Specifically, in the areas of math, he praised AAHS for having markably well" with changes and He was not quite so enthusiastic atal lish departments, saying they spend time on the 'Ancient Mariner' and time on modern authors." Concerning grades, he feels to felaxing and lieves he can tem and his Imuch better HS since he psely stayed md. I'm like iministi'ation hite opinions at the helm Arbor School ght it was." er of other 'way ahead" h schools in science and kept up "reinnovations. 3ut the EngI "too much not enough much phasis is put on them. And he believes, too, that curriculum changes in the school system must continue unabated. "Much of the student unrest today across the country is the result of a stagnant curriculum and outdated teaching methods. Many students are not being challenged," 'he charged. But Schreiber emphasized his "great satisfaction" in seeing the Ann Arbor school system improve over the years. "It has been most rewarding," he remarked. On the subject of the racial unrest which rocked Ann Arbor High School last spring, Schreiber was candid: "Tq my knowledge, there was no OVert discrimination against Negro students." He conceded, however, that charges of "racism" mean "different things to different people, and it all depends on how you define racism." He feels the racial conflict in May and June might have been avoided "if we had been able to better communicate with the students," especially the black students. "I am convinced we were not meeting their (the black students') needs," he said. "It isn't that we didn't try- we didn't know what to do." He said he feit he and the faculty were approachable, but "they (the black students) feit they couldn't talk to us. They feit they had to go through too many channels." Schreiber said he believes many of the black students' complaints and demands were "quite legitímate," while others were "picayunish" and "exaggerated." He especially feels the curriculum needs of many of the Negro students were not being met, and he criticized the schools' curriculum office for not giving him and his faculty more leadership on course additions ana changes. Schreiber . added he hoped the charges of racial discrimination against some of the highschool teachers and administrators - aired during a stormy "Speak-Out" session of the black students- had been follo.wed up, with the people in question either being cleared or "disciplined." (School Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. confirmed that all such allegations have been thoroughly investigated, and that certain teachers found to be at fault have been "counseled.") All of this is behind him now, however, and Schreiber expresses pleasure that he is at last able to rest and travel- full time. He and his wife leave April 4, in fa et, for a three-week sojourn in Paris, Spain and Portugal. They have been invited to accompany approxi-J mately 100 AAHS students on their school-sponJ sored trip to Paris. The Schreibers will thejB continue to Spain and Portugal on their own.