The Crookston School Board was thrown a big surprise at their meeting on Monday evening. The board found out longtime teacher (34 years in the Crookston school district) and hall of fame coach Mike Geffre has turned in his retirement notice and will retire from teaching in Minnesota and will be moving to Michigan to teach Drafting and Woods at Paw Paw (Michigan) School District. The school board reluctantly accepted the retirement request and thanked the 60-year-old Geffre for his many years of teaching and coaching. “It was an opportunity I wasn’t looking for and it popped up in the last few weeks. They notified me of an opening over there and the superintendent asked if I could send in an application, I did. A couple of days later I had an interview and on Friday they offered me a job and I said no I can’t come there. Then they made a pretty good offer and I said I guess I have to do that so it has been a whirlwind last couple of days and I think about where I want to be in five years when I retire and to be closer to my daughter and grandchildren so it happened to be the right time.”
Paw Paw is about 30 minutes from Geffre’s daughter Amanda and as Mike said, hopefully, future grandchildren. Paw Paw is about 20 minutes from Kalamazoo and about the same distance from Lake Michigan.
Mike wanted to be closer to Amanda, but he also said there were other underlying factors on why he was leaving. “I will miss all the good people in town and wish I could take some with me,” said Geffre. “I want to thank everybody, especially the kids I have coached, the parents, the staff at the school district over the years and I wish I could take a lot of them over with me because I will miss them.”
Geffre’s retirement leaves the Crookston School District in a jam. They will have to find an industrial arts teacher before school starts in a month and they will also have to find a head girls tennis coach in three weeks.
Mike’s retirement letter to the school district is below –
This letter is my formal notice that I am retiring from my job as a high school Industrial Tech. Teacher and coach at Crookston Public Schools. An opportunity that was totally unexpected has been presented to me. The last 34 years teaching and coaching at Crookston HS has been an experience that I will carry with me forever. I want to thank ISD 593 for the support they have given me over my career here. I would like to personally thank all of the students, parents, athletes, and employees of ISD 593 for having made my 34 years more enjoyable then I could ever have imagined. My only wish is that I could take you with me where I am moving. I sincerely wish you all the best, God Bless and Go Pirates.
Mike Geffre
