Change is in store for Orestimba High School and Gustine High School in the coming year, as each says farewell to staff members who have contributed greatly to their respective campuses.

Former OHS vice principal and long-time staff member Kerry McWilliams has submitted his letter of resignation and will be moving on to an administrative position at Creekside Middle School in Patterson.

John Bussard, assistant principal at Gustine High School, is on the move as well and has accepted an administrative post at Ceres High School.

We are sorry to see them go.

McWilliams was one of the first people I met when coming to Newman 24 summers ago, and we got on well from the start.

He and his wife Kathy, the former principal at Yolo Middle School, invested themselves not only in local schools but in the local community.

McWilliams has been both a stabilizing influence and a leader through the years at Orestimba as a teacher, administrator and coach.

Those positions sometimes lend themselves to second-guessing and armchair quarterbacking, but through the years I have never seen him make a decision that he did not feel was in the best interest of the kids and the right call to make given whatever set of circumstances was at hand.

When the district decided last year that he could no longer coach and serve as an administrator, McWilliams stepped down from his assistant principal job and accepted a classroom assignment in order to coach a 29th and final year – an important milestone to him for personal reasons.

That decision reflected remarkable principle and character, although it probably cost McWilliams any opportunity for an administrative future in the Newman-Crows Landing district.

Bussard is a familiar figure at Gustine High School, where he has been a teacher, administrator and coach during some very tumultuous and trying times.

He and other administrators at Gustine High have had some “no-win” situations laid at their feet over the years. I don’t envy Bussard for some of the controversies he has had to try to sort out.....knowing that no matter what the outcome somebody was going to be up in arms.

Bussard also devoted countless hours to the baseball program at GHS – and the field on which the Redskins played and practiced. He took matters into his own hands when it came to upgrading the GHS baseball diamond, investing personal hours and personal dollars into the project.

I think that qualifies as going way, way beyond the call of duty or the letter of any contract.

I have always appreciated the willingness of McWilliams and Bussard to go out of their way to provide whatever the newspaper needed in timely fashion, whether or not it was convenient for them. Even when things weren’t going particularly well and I was probably the last person they wanted to see standing in their doorway, they were always gracious and accommodating.

I always enjoyed the insights they shared in conversations with plenty of candid back-and-forth discussion on whatever issue was at hand.

Good people both, who will be deeply missed at Gustine High School and Orestimba High School.

· Enjoyed Gustine’s Fourth of July parade Friday, and the fireworks show was fun even after the hour-long delay that sent many folks packing before the pyrotechnics lit up the sky. That’s my take on the Fourth of July, and I’m sticking to it instead of focusing on any negatives.

Of course, I could complain that there were no park activities, fire off a nasty email to the Citizens for the Fourth about having to wait an hour in the stadium while the fireworks crew reportedly scrambled to get everything good to go, but the fact of the matter is that the day is what you make of it.

Granted, the delay in the fireworks display was a bad situation, and I don’t for one minute blame those who chose not to wait – especially families with youngsters. It was frustrating – but I doubt that anybody was more frustrated than the Fourth of July organizers who were watching an exodus of upset people from the stadium while the fireworks company tried to sort out whatever issues they were having.

Our sense is that Gustine’s Fourth of July celebration is at a crossroads of sorts.

We hope it comes back better than ever next year, with the support of new community volunteers willing to roll up their sleeves and help carry a fine Gustine tradition forward for many years to come.

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