Educator Loves Job, But Ready For A Break

A longtime coach and teacher at Lakeland High School will retire at the end of this school year.

“You take this job home with you a lot of the time,” said Vern Bengtson, 56, and a teacher for 34 years. “But I love doing it.”

Coaching and teaching American Government have been his areas of focus. He has coached an array of sports including football, basketball, and track, at several levels for both boys and girls teams.

Currently, he is the high school’s athletic director, which he says is more stressful and hectic than teaching.

Although he only teaches three classes, he is also responsible for scheduling games, school activities, and transportation for those events, making it difficult to stay on top of things.

Bengtson also has taught American government for 20 years. Teaching, he explained, is what has kept him interested, and he is known among students for his dry sense of humor.

“My favorite part of the job - summer,” he said, before continuing, “No, what I enjoy most is that every day is a new day. Dealing with different people and different personalities each day is unique and challenging. You don’t always know what things to expect. I deal with 130 people a day, and each one has different moods and thoughts. Even I have different moods that I have to deal with. I think that’s what keeps you interested in this job.”

At the same time, there are aspects of the job Bengtson says he could do without.

“In the classroom, what I like least is when you have to do paperwork rather than teach. Sometimes the paperwork detracts from my ability to talk and teach, so I could definitely do without it.”

Bengtson grew up in Coeur d’Alene and has lived in the area his entire life with his wife and two sons, both grown. After high school, Bengtson attended North Idaho College, then finished his degree at the University of Idaho, where he graduated in 1967 with a bachelors of science in education. He continues to live close to his family, who also live in the Coeur d’Alene area. He says that early on, his father had a profound impact in shaping his life and career.

“My dad got me going in all the right directions,” he explained. “My father encouraged me to continue my education. I was one of those guys who went to college without knowing what I wanted to pursue.”

Bengtson decided to become a teacher, a decision that he does not regret. During his long career, he has received many awards and much recognition, including teacher of the year for Lakeland High School, as well as for the Lakeland School District.

“Yes, I’ve gotten teacher of the year a couple times, three I think, maybe more. I don’t even know. We didn’t have many teachers when I started out, and those sorts of things have never been really important to me.”

Bengtson said his largest accomplishment in his career has not been in the form of an award. “I think just lasting this long has been my greatest accomplishment,” he said. “There have been so many accomplishments. This job is fairly rewarding, and I’ve done a lot of different things.”

He said despite complaints among other teachers, the students are not getting worse.

“The students haven’t changed,” Bengtson explained. “When you’ve been here as long as I have, you start to realize that the students don’t change; the things they talk about change, but not the students.”

As for advice for other teachers, Bengtson is practical.

“You just have to do what works for you,” he said.

“Not everyone is cut out to be a teacher, and not everyone should last as long as I have. I think personally that teaching is easy for me. I could do it for 20 more years. I’m not going to, but I could. However, all plans change.

I plan on retiring at the end of the year, but you never know, I might go back to work. Right now, though, my only plan for retirement is to play.”

Bengtson is looking forward to having some free time. He takes pride in his lawn and garden, and he also has a number of hobbies with which he would like to spend more time, including woodworking and car restoration. There is one traditional retirement activity that he does not plan to take up, however.

“I’ve never golfed,” he said, “and I don’t plan on starting. I might travel a little, but I won’t be golfing anytime soon.”