By Elaine Quayle
A teacher who started in the profession in 1955 (not a typo), and signed up to be a paraprofessional after 1 week of retirement, has been rehired by a Connecticut school system. At age 82, she hired a lawyer to make sure she was offered a contract for the coming school year because she wants to work until she’s 95.
And no, the reason she hired the lawyer wasn’t because of age discrimination. The woman, Lois Richards, believes she was not offered a new contract because she had taken a medical leave for treatment of cancer, even though her doctor wrote a letter stating the woman “may be released to full work duties without restrictions,” according to an article in the New Haven Register.
But there is a happy ending. The Milford school system did offer her a new contract, something that delighted her son—a judge. And her attorney said he was pleased with the school board’s decision and hopes that Lois’s many achievements in the system will be celebrated.
And Lois herself is delighted. “I want to continue helping children, which is what I’ve been doing for over 50 years,” she told the Register, and she also told the paper she intends to keep working with schoolchildren as long as she is able.