DAGSBORO — For the first time since 2000, Dr. Donald Hattier Jr. will not be part of a school board election.
Retirement has arrived for the 70-year-old Dagsboro resident, whose 22-year tenure on the Indian River School District’s board of education will end in several months.
He’ll remain on the board for May and June meetings, and then pass the baton as one of the district’s two District 4 representatives, to either Anita West-Werner or Joshua Hudson, the candidates in the district’s only contested race.
School board elections in the state are May 14.
“I just felt that it was time for somebody else to take it,” said Dr. Hattier. “There is a responsibility factor that goes along with all of this, where you are always making decisions on different things. And, at 70, I don’t want to do it anymore.”
While no longer on the board of education, Dr. Hattier plans to remain active on several district committees.
“I plan to stay on, especially staying with the Finance and Building & Grounds, as well as the Futures Committee,” said Dr. Hattier.
“I don’t want to have to defend myself in public as much as I used to. I’d rather just hide on the committee somewhere.”
Indian River superintendent Dr. Jay Owens notes that Dr. Hattier has chaired two committees, Building & Grounds and Finance.
“There is a lot of information related to the school district that flows through those two committees. And having him as the board chair and the voice at board meetings is really helpful,” Dr. Owens said.
The Hattiers’ four grown children, three daughters and one son, are all Indian River High School graduates. Their resumes include a clinical psychologist, a medical doctor and a PhD candidate for speech and language problems. His son is pursuing his master’s degree at Drexel University.
“The schools treated my kids very well. So, it’s hard to say that this school district failed my kids,” said Dr. Hattier. “For us, education is simply the most important thing you can do. You can take a lot of things away from people physically, but you can’t take their education away from them. Only disease can do that.”
“Another thing, that anybody that knows Doc, he has been a real advocate for our outdoor education programming, specifically our Ingram Pond programming, which brings real science to students utilizing the pond and various outdoor activities,” said Dr. Owens.
Dr. Hattier tasted defeat in his first run for school board. In the 2000 election, he lost to Charles Bireley, who would go on to serve 43-plus years on the district’s board of education.
“One of the good things was that we agreed with each other most of the time,” said Mr. Bireley, now 84, who left the board three years ago. “We didn’t have any down-and-outs or anything else like that as far as the educational purpose and everything. We did agree most of the time. And he was a good person to work with.”
The original issue was the construction of the new Indian River High School and Sussex Central High School, Dr. Hattier said.
“The money had been allocated and Charlie was arguing for new elementary schools, and I was arguing for a new high school. Because sooner or later, high schools would have to be done anyway,” said Dr. Hattier. “As it turned out we did the high schools first, and then we came back and floated another referendum and literally rebuilt all the other buildings. By the time the election happened, Charlie decided he was going to support the high schools.”
“I’ve had one election that wasn’t contested and that was my last one. Other than that, I won by reasonably good margins most of the time,” Dr. Hattier said. “If you want public service, this is public service. You’re not being paid for it.”
Dr. Hattier plans to enjoy retirement. That may mean “messing” with his property, “playing” with his motorcycles and continuing his leadership role as a World War II reenactor with the Harbor Defenses of the Delaware Living History Association.
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