Ann Arbor's Bach Elementary School principal retiring after 37 years with district

Bach Elementary School Principal Shelley Bruder has announced her retirement from the Ann Arbor Public Schools after spending 37 years with the district.

The longtime educator began her career in the district as a teacher in 1976, officials said. She later served as principal of Northside Elementary School for four years, followed by 11 years at Mitchell Elementary. She came to Bach Elementary in 2004, officials said.

"Shelley has worked tirelessly for students in the Ann Arbor district for 37 years," Communications Director Liz Margolis said in a statement. "Both in the classroom and as a building principal, she has devoted her career to ensuring all students achieve at their highest level. Her work at Bach, leading the district's first ESL (English as a second language) magnet school that serves the west side of Ann Arbor was truly groundbreaking.

"Under Shelley's leadership the Bach ESL magnet provides a welcome learning environment for international students. Bach school and the entire AAPS community will miss Shelley's leadership and her compassion and care for her students."

Bruder said in her biography on the Bach Elementary website that being an educator is all she ever imagined it would be. "Working with such a well-educated and dedicated staff to assist students learn all they can is a very rewarding job," she wrote.

Bruder is the second elementary school principal to announce her retirement at the end of this school year. Virginia Bell at Burns Park Elementary School also is retiring. Bell has been with the district for 20 years. She began her career as a teacher and was named Huron High School assistant principal in 2002. Bell has been at Burns Park for the past two years.

Margolis said in late April, the district posted a generic elementary school principal opening anticipating reassignments or additional principal retirements prior to the start of the 2013-14 academic year. So far, the district will need to fill leadership roles at Bach, Burns Park and Pattengill elementaries, as well as Skyline High School.

Pattengill Elementary Principal Che Carter was named the new Clague Middle School principal earlier this week.

Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.