After 24 years in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) and 12 years of working as the PAUSD assistant superintendent, Scott Bowers will  retire at the end of the school year.

Prior to working in the District office, Bowers spent nearly four years as Assistant Principal at Palo Alto High School. He later transitioned into the role of Principal at Fairmeadow Elementary School for eight years.

Bowers does not plan to stay in Palo Alto after retiring, but may seek out a part-time teaching position elsewhere.

“I’m retiring from the State Teacher Retirement System and I will start looking around and see what opportunities are there,” Bowers said. “One thing that seems attractive would be to maybe go back into the classroom and teach part-time. I was a math teacher before I became an administrator so it’d be kind of fun to maybe go back and teach math.”

Of all his experiences in PAUSD, hosting his first Chow Down Day event was his most memorable.

“The first time I stood in front of the entire teacher group on Chow Down Day, which is the first teacher work day of the year in August, and had to address the whole group [was my most memorable moment],” Bowers said. “The assistant superintendent is kind of the MC for the staff gathering. So that was a memorable first opportunity.”

Bowers will miss his team in the district office the most after leaving.

“My staff, the HR staff here at the district office is really a great team of people to work with,” Bowers said. “I’ve got all of the payroll people, the hiring staff, they’re just a great bunch and that’s a group that I’m going to miss a lot. Obviously getting out to all the different schools and when I have the opportunity to go into the different classrooms, those kinds of things.”

According to Superintendent Max McGee, the district is planning to look at all possible options to fill this vacancy as soon as possible.