Farmington Independent — A Farmington Elementary School student stopped Ben Januschka ’80 in the hallway one day earlier this month.
“I know why you’re retiring,” the student said to his principal, who worked his last official day in the office this week.
“Oh?” Januschka said. “Why is that?”
“Because you’re old.”
Januschka is certainly older than he was when he came to Farmington as one of the district’s first two student advocates. But you’d hardly know it to talk to him. He still loves coming to work each day. He still gets excited about the students and teachers in his building, about watching students learn and grow.
He’s happy as a principal, but his wife, Peggy, is retired now. His parents and hers are both having some health problems. And so, he said, now seemed like the right time to step away.
He is leaving now, he said, to allow the district to start looking for his successor now, while there is still a deep pool of potential candidates.
Education was actually Januschka’s third career. He got a degree in social work from St. Cloud State, and his first job out of college was as a social worker for Pierce County, Wis.
