Richardson's return to classroom like starting from scratchby Nathan Arneal Sometimes they come back. Yeah, it sounds like a Stephen King horror story, but it can also be applied to the North Bend Central science department, which in recent years has seen its share of retired teachers return to the classroom. Luckily, minimum horror has been involved. So far.
The latest example is Steve Richardson, who began his NBC teaching career in 1979 and retired in 2020 at the age of 65. His final quarter of teaching was done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. His retirement party consisted of his fellow teachers parading by his house in North Bend. Richardson didn’t really leave NBC after leaving NBC. He continued to substitute at the school regularly, even when he and his wife Lisa moved to Papillion to be closer to grandkids, her work and his mother. One day last year, NBC principal Brenda Petersen asked him if he wanted to come back and fill the science position opened by Fred Ladehoff’s retirement. In typical Richardson fashion, his immediate reaction was to crack a joke. Then he paused and said, “I’ll think about it.” “I didn’t have anything to do,” Richardson said. Lisa still works full time, so they couldn’t do the travel typical of retired couples. He spent falls helping a farmer with harvest. He did attend grandkids activities, but he still found he had too much time on his hands. Plus, it wouldn’t be bad to have that full-time paycheck back. “I was like, if I’m out here four days a week, I might as well be salaried instead of just sub pay,” Richardson said. The Richardsons moved from Papillion to Elkhorn, reducing the 65-minute commute (80 minutes on the way home during rush hour) to 30. He returned to the NBC faculty this past fall, one door south of his old room, but it wasn’t exactly like riding a bike. In Part I of his career, he taught mostly life sciences: Biology II and eighth grade science, which was kind of a catch-all. Now his class load consists of physical science, physics and chemistry. The old dog had to learn some new tricks. “It’s tougher science,” Richardson said. “It’s harder to teach. I hadn’t had a lot of physics, even in college. After I got the job I spent every day this summer at our new apartment working on physics. I’d go down to the pool with my physics book and just try to digest as much physics as I could, and it was tough.” For the 42-year teaching veteran, it was like being a first-year teacher all over again. Richardson arrives at school at 6:30 a.m. to prepare for the day. “I need the quiet time in this school until the bell rings to get prepared for class, get things set up,” he said. “Now I am getting to where I’m better at organizing my time with stuff like that. It’s a lot of planning work. When you’re a sub you just show up with your crossword puzzle book because the teacher has it all planned out for you.” Some things changed during his five-year “break.” And other things, like Richardson, are coming back. For example, paper and pencil tests.
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