We always throw a small retirement party whenever a teacher retires. We hold it in the gym after school (3:00-4:00 PM) and just serve cake, cookies, ice tea, & lemonade (it is too hot for coffee in June). All of the school staff is invited and we also invite the parents and children to attend. We also present them with a gift something like a watch that is engraved on the back.
We give retiring faculty a gift basket tailored to their interests. We ask their friends on the faculty what the person does in their "spare" time and try to build the basket around that.
Just wondering, do other groups pay for retirement parties for outgoing teachers?
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris