BURBANK : Superintendent of Schools Will Retire

Burbank Unified School District Supt. Arthur Pierce announced his retirement Tuesday--effective mid-July--after seven years with the district.

He leaves the district at a time when the school board is still searching for a way to rebuild schools after the April failure of the $100-million bond referendum.

“You’re always leaving issues behind,” Pierce said. “The very nature of public administration is that there are always issues building and being left unsettled.”

Pierce said he made his decision to retire last week, before he was named along with the school district and board of education in a lawsuit filed by former Burbank High Principal Keiko Hentell, who charged that her civil rights were violated when her contract was not continued and she was later removed from her job. Pierce said the lawsuit had nothing to do with his decision to retire.

A native of Rhode Island who moved to Burbank from a position as a superintendent in Maine, Pierce cited personal reasons for his retirement, saying his three children now live in New England. His oldest daughter’s husband, who is in the Coast Guard, recently was transferred to Portland, Me. A son, who graduated from UC Irvine, is in graduate school in Boston.

Pierce has been schools superintendent in four different communities during the past 24 years.

“The time comes when you need to get on with the rest of your life,” Pierce said, pointing to the conversion of Burbank’s junior high schools to middle schools as one of his most significant accomplishments.

The retirement will officially be effective Aug. 16, but with accumulated vacation time, Pierce’s last day on the job will be in mid-July. He will be returning to Maine, where he owns two pieces of property--one on an island, the other near a ski resort.

But despite the natural disasters and other problems that have plagued California, Pierce said he will miss this area.

“California has lots going for it,” Pierce said. “This is just a wonderfully rich environment in which to live.”