Chances are that anyone wanting to talk with schools superintendent Jeff Johnson during the next year will have to run alongside the city’s top educator as he gets the district ready for his retirement.

“It’s going to be a busy year,” Johnson said early this week. “We still have a school district to run, and I don’t plan to slow down until the school year is over.”

Once the 2008-09 school year is over, and next year’s Calistoga High School graduates have cast their mortarboards to the four winds, Johnson plans to dust off the ol’ fly rod and head to the fishin’ hole — wherever that maybe.

At a June 23 meeting of the Calistoga Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees, Johnson disclosed plans to retire after 34 years of educating kids, a decision he and his wife made some years ago.

In addition to polishing off his career as a teacher and school district administrator, Johnson recently became the 2008-09 president of the Rotary International club of Calistoga.

One of the things Johnson wanted to avoid comparing his last year at the helm of the school district to was the American president’s last year in office.

“I certainly don’t feel like a lame duck,” he said. “And I don’t foresee any of the kinds of things that go along with that title and the presidency happening here — we plan to stay very busy, and my personality is such that we’re going to continue rolling right along doing what we need to do.”

Without going into detail, Johnson said he plans to finish his career “working for the kids.”

“My heart is and will always be with the kids of this community,” he said. “It’s been a real honor to work with all the teachers and school district boards of trustees over the years. Not only has Calistoga been a great community, but the degree to which people and parents have stayed involved in the education of their children has been remarkable.”

Johnson and wife Shawnee, a nurse at the St. Helena Hospital, plan to continue living locally. “I see a lot of people coming here to retire,” he said. “I’d be a fool to retire then leave. My family and I were very fortunate to have landed here, so this is where we’re going to stay.

(Editor’s note: Over the next year, until his retirement, The Weekly Calistogan will feature an occasional series covering the 25-year-span of Johnson’s career in Calistoga).

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