A common sight for teachers is papers, textbooks and students until the day of their last lesson. Nine teachers will retire from campus this school year. After years of work, these teachers have worked with countless amounts of students. Two of which are Social Science teachers Dana Ernest and Kevin Brown. They have both been long-time teachers on this campus and now they are faced with a limited number of lectures.

“I love my profession of teaching. I really do believe I found the job that suited me,” Ernest said.

Ernest has been a member of the Escondido Union High School District  since 1977. This means that he has been a teacher for 42 years on campus. Of course, Ernest did not just begin teaching social science classes so suddenly. He began at Loyola University, where he stayed for his freshmen year. After a year at Loyola University, he left to join the United States Air Force and later continued his education at San Diego State University where he majored in Social Sciences. This was a major that was offered back when he was in Ernest was in school. He intended on becoming a social science teacher with this major.

“I had always been a good student. I liked going to school,” Ernest said.

Ernest has taught a variety of different classes during his career. While he currently only teaches, U.S. History, due to administrative decisions, he has taught classes such as Geography, World History and U.S. Government. Although he is unable to teach all the classes he wants, Ernest still believes that he had the chance to help students learn not only in the classroom but also teaching them skills such as responsibility and time management through the work that he assigns them. Not only do these skills help his students succeed in class but later on in life too.

“I get the opportunity to play with people’s brains. It’s different everyday, every period,” Brown said.In 1988, the Escondido Union High School District gained a new member, Brown. This is Brown’s 30th year as a teacher in the Social Science department. He attended the University of California Santa Barbara, where he obtained a double major in Political Science and German Language and Culture.

“I’ll miss this for sure. The teaching part and being around you guys [students],” Brown said. Currently, Brown    teaches American Government as well as the three Advanced Placement Psychology classes offered on campus.Although these are the classes that Brown teaches at the moment, he has taught a variety of classes from the Social Science department. This includes, World History, Advanced Placement United States History, Economics, and Humanities. Besides being confined to his classroom, Brown is also a coach for the tennis teams on campus. After retirement, he plans on taking a break for a year and then returning not as a teacher but as a coach.

Retiring teachers means open positions, and according to Assistant Superintendent Olga West, there are nine teacher retiring but only five positions will be replaced. One reason for this is the decreased enrollment to the campus, which has been occurring over the last few years.

“This has been a great profession. It has suited me. This has been a wonderful career and I would do it again,” Ernest said.