Administrative assistant Dorothy Long will retire after 20 years at BVNW, with her last day being Friday.

Long said the decision of retiring had been suggested to her for a while by her husband, which led her to consider it.

“My husband was kind of anxious for me to retire so that we would have more flexibility in our schedules, be able to travel more and do more of the things we like to do,” Long said.

While she does not have long-term plans yet, Long said she has an idea of what she intends on doing with her newly opened schedule.

“I’m going to start out by watching our long-awaited first grandchild for seven weeks, and he’s up in Chicago,” Long said. “We have a couple of big trips planned; we like to travel so we’ll do a lot of that.”

Long said she also expects to do volunteer work, and her travels include stops in South Africa and Japan in the upcoming months. Principal Amy Murphy said she is happy for Long, but will miss her as well.

“I’m excited for [Long], because I think it’s a great opportunity for her to start her next chapter of her life, but she’s been around here for a long time so we’re going to miss her,” Murphy said. “She’s kind of a staple of the building, and she knows a lot and takes care of us so it’s going to be sad to not have her here.”

As a parent of two former students at BVNW, Murphy said Long held particular value by having a different perspective on the school.

“She brings a unique perspective having been a parent; both of her daughters graduated from here so she’s looked at the school through the eyes of a parent but then she’s also looked at the school through the eyes of an employee,” Murphy said. “Several of our administrative assistants have been parents, so I think there’s a certain loyalty that they bring.”

Long said she will miss the building, as well as the people in it. She said she intends on keeping up with the friendships she has formed with co-workers. Although Long said she awaits the day of her retirement with positive feelings, she said it will likely feel odd leaving the building that day.

“I remember how different it felt when I first came in here to interview for a job and my first day on the job, and I think I’ll have those same feelings,” Long said. “A change is always a little unsettling.”

Above all, Long said she is ultimately very excited to begin the next chapter of her life.

“My biggest feeling is happiness because I think I made the right decision,” Long said. “I’m not saying that I won’t do some kind of a job sometime later in my life that’s more flexible, but right now I’m very happy to be retiring.”