Chuck Chafee enjoyed his job as an area manager for local Pizza Hut restaurants, but found the hours a challenge.
He was putting in 70 to 80 hours a week, leaving little time to spend with wife Annette and their four young children. “I thought there’s got to be something better than this,’’ Chafee said.
After 14 years working for Pizza Hut, Chafee made a move. He took his business degree earned at SUNY Geneseo after graduating from Mount Markham Central School and went back to school for a year at SUNY Oneonta.
He graduated with his mat’s degree in business and later earned his professional teaching certification at SUNY Cortland. That second challenging career took him many places, with the last eight years spent as superintendent of Waterville Central School District.
As of July 1, retirement starts, ending a long string of years of juggling economic downfalls and school budgets, calling, or not calling, snow days, and plowing through emails daily.
“Coming here to Waterville was coming home,’’ Chafee said. “From the first day it felt like a great fit.’’
Along with growing up in the adjacent school district to the east, Chafee’s teaching and administrative career included districts that circle Waterville’s. One of those was back to Mount Markham, where he taught business, algebra and was athletic director.
He and wife Annette had moved their two sons and two daughters to Mount Markham, where Annette worked as a teacher’s assistant. “At one time she…