LOWELL | The Tri-Creek School Board said goodbye Thursday to a group of five highly regarded teachers who have 165 years of combined teaching experience.

"They'll all be missed," board President Sue Vauter said of the teachers, all of whom will be retiring at the end of the school year.

The retiring teachers are Jill Westerbeck, Oak Hill fifth-grade teacher; Nanette Parente, Three Creeks kindergarten teacher; Daniel Eller, Lowell Middle School eighth-grade science teacher; Margaret Hurt, humanities and social studies teacher at Lowell High School; and Charlotte Peters, humanities and English teacher at the high school.

Lowell High School Principal Jim Koger attended Thursday's School Board meeting.

"They are classic examples of teachers that build relationships with kids," Koger said of Hurt and Peters, who teach humanities as a team. He added with a grin that he has been encouraging students to ask them to hold off on retirement.

Assistant Superintendent Ray Cusic said Friday that his office doesn't have a handle yet on whether Tri-Creek will be facing a run on retirements.

"The one thing that changed from this year and last year and those previous is we conducted a buyout," Cusic said, explaining that all severance and retirement packages were bought out through state Senate Bill 199.

The time limitations for notification of intent to retire were eliminated, as was a limit on the number of those allowed to retire in the same year as dictated by budget constraints, Cusic said.

As a result, teachers who had been watching seniority closely are enjoying a more freedom in making their decisions, Cusic said.

"We're not sure what will happen," Cusic said. "They take with them the kind of experience that doesn't come overnight."