Previously this month, news of an MHS legend leaving the district caused an outcry amongst students and faculty; at one point, Mr. Books announced his retirement.

     The situation is a bit more complicated than a simple calling-it-quits, however. Mr. Books announced his short-lived retirement due to certain Ohio legislation.

      “It used to be that most teachers looked forward to retiring from public education after 30 years of teaching,” Books explains. “Perhaps a decade ago the state legislature foresaw that there was going to be a sudden shortage of teachers just a few years from then so they changed the retirement laws to incentivize teachers (with more retirement money) to stay until they completed 35 full years of teaching.”

     “In fact, the change was made in such a way that a teacher who retired with 34.99 years of public service got significantly less money at retirement than someone who taught just one additional day to qualify for the full 35 years of retirement pay,” he continues.

     Many MHS students, past and present, were quick to applaud Mr. Books’ teaching style and importance in the high school.

     “To describe Mr. Books as a good teacher is quite an understatement,” says Bryan Georgilis, MHS graduate and former Mr. Books student. “I could go on, but this is probably overkill as it is; Mr. Books teaches so that studying for his class is especially effective, and refreshingly painless.”

     “I think he should stay because he is a favorite of many students and has a long history at Mariemont,” says MHS sophomore Emmett Saulnier.

     Last year, Mr. Books hit the retirement plateau with his 25^th consecutive year at MHS, but due to the current economic recession, Mr. Books chose to continue his storied career in the Mariemont district.

     “So, on a significant level, I am choosing to retire now for personally selfish reasons–it simply makes economic sense for my family’s sake to take advantage of this situation before the state legislature negatively impacts the Ohio public employee retirement program,” admits Books.

     “If he thinks that that’s the right direction for himself at this point in his life, that’s his call and he certainly deserves some rest if he wants it,” inquires Georgilis. “However, I would remind him that he is an irreplaceable asset to MHS and urge him not to deprive its students of his talents lightly.”

     Though Georgilis says it is completely Mr. Books’ call on whether to continue his career for any reason, the veteran teacher doesn’t currently plan on retiring, as fiscal numbers and state legislations are not the only thing affecting Mr. Books’ decision. After more than three decades at Mariemont, the history teacher also says how much his job means to him.

     “On another level, I feel I simply want to continue to teach,” Books says. “But after ‘bleeding blue-and-gold’ for the past 25 years I couldn’t really see myself going to Indian Hill or Madeira or CCD or Seven Hills and enjoying the rest of my career breaking into a new school system.”

     The question most people want to know is “How much longer will Mr. Books stay?”

     “Plus, my wife and I made an agreement a long time ago; we agreed that she could retire at the same time I retire,” Books says.  “She won’t be able to retire from her job for another 5 years so I expect that MHS is stuck with me for at least that long.”