38-year veteran Pleasant Valley teacher to retire

Bob Schmidt Veteran music teacher Bob Schmidt will retire from the Pleasant Valley School District next month after 38 years with the district. This was his last week with the students.

"I've enjoyed the people that I've worked with," Schmidt said. "I've enjoyed the kids in Camarillo. It's just been very comfortable for me here."

Schmidt spent 36 of his 38 years in the district teaching music and social studies at Los Altos Middle School, which closed last year, although over the course of nearly four decades he has taught music at just about every school in the district. He also coached the boys' and girls' basketball teams and the girls' soccer team at Los Altos.

This year, he split his time between teaching at Tierra Linda, Dos Caminos and La Mariposa elementary schools and Las Colinas Middle School.

Patrick FitzGerald, the principal at Las Colinas, said Schmidt has a passion for music and a knack for teaching. FitzGerald and Schmidt have worked together at various schools in the district for 26 years.

"He does a great job with the kids," FitzGerald said. "Patience and a sense of humor are definite assets when you work in education, particularly in middle school, and Bob does have those qualities."

Schmidt said staying in the district gave him the opportunity to teach his youngest son, Bryan, when he attended Los Altos.

"It was fun," Schmidt said.

Robert, his oldest son, had attended Monte Vista Middle School.

Schmidt said one of the highlights of his career has been participating with the Los Altos band in competitive parades all over Southern California. The band won 22 consecutive first-place awards during his time there, he said.

Schmidt said he felt moved that so many former students have continued their musical education and become teachers and band directors themselves. The director of the Moorpark High School band is a former student of his, he said.

Another former student, Tara Hashimoto, now 19 and attending Moorpark College, said when she was in middle school she and her classmates often tried, but usually failed, to annoy Schmidt by misbehaving.

"He was just a fun guy," the Camarillo resident said.

"It's sad (that he's retiring), but it's time, because he's done a lot of work and he deserves a break. All those kids, after 38 years, must have gotten very annoying," she said with a chuckle.

Debbie Schmidt said her husband of 39 years is a quiet, eventempered guy who loves his job and isn't easily irritated.

"He's just a very nice, easygoing, good man," she said.

Schmidt said he's retiring for practical reasons: He's reached the top of the pay scale and would net more income in retirement than by continuing to work.

"So it's time," he said.

He'd like to continue teaching music a couple of days a week in Pleasant Valley schools but is unsure if that will happen.

In any event, he does know he'll be spending a good deal of time on the golf course and visiting his four grandchildren.

He and Debbie also plan to travel around the country to visit other family members.

Schmidt has spent a total of 40 years teaching, having worked for two years at a private school in the San Fernando Valley before coming to Camarillo.

He earned a master's degree in education a while back, which would qualify him for administrative positions, but he said he's never wanted to do that type of work.

"The action in education is in the classroom," Schmidt said. "Working with the kids- that's what education is all about."