News Photo by Julie Goldberg Sue Grulke is retiring after 28 years at the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District. She said she’s excited for more family time, but is going to miss the people she’s been able to work with.

News Photo by Julie Goldberg
Sue Grulke is retiring after 28 years at the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District. She said she’s excited for more family time, but is going to miss the people she’s been able to work with.

“I had to think about it quite a bit,” Grulke said. “It’s a hard decision. I love the work and I love the people, but I’ve been doing it for 28 years and I taught before, so it’s time. The timing is right.”

While at the AMA ESD, Grulke was a teacher consultant, principal at Pied Piper School, director of special education, and assistant superintendent. She said she learned something different in each position she held.

“As a principal, I think you can’t be a leader at the AMA ESD if you don’t understand Pied Piper,” Grulke said. “The staff, students, and families are amazing and you learn a lot of lessons both personally and professionally by being a leader at Pied Piper. I think that helped me to be a better leader at the AMA when I came back to be the director of special education.”

As the director of special education, Grulke said she worked with students who had disabilities and also in general education. As an assistant superintendent, Grulke was able to look at universal education and what that looks like within the AMA ESD and the local school districts.

“The best thing I’ve learned is that every educator I’ve met is in it for the right reasons, they’re there for kids. I saw that at every level,” Grulke said. “It’s the people, it’s the staff, whether it’s the support staff, a paraprofessional, a teacher, or a school psychologist, they all work hard for kids.”

Grulke said she’s going to miss the people she’s been able to work alongside every day and the work that she’s done for so long.

“You’re connected every day working with people to improve results for kids,” she said. “I really do like the work, even though it seems like it changes every day, that’s the one constant in education today is change, but I like that kind of work as long as it has good results, so I’m going to miss the people and the work.”

As for advice for people who work at the AMA ESD, Grulke said people can get caught up in the ever-changing world of education, so people should take more time to acknowledge each other, not just for the work but as people.

“I think you need to make sure you continue doing that and take care of the people, and take care of yourself because you can kind of let yourself go when you’re entrenched in the busy work day to day,” Grulke said.

Grulke plans to enjoy more family time while she’s retired. She said some family time was given up with the roles she held. She said she and her husband plan to camp this summer and head somewhere warm for the winter.

Julie Goldberg can be reached via email at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688.