A long-time South Whidbey Elementary School teacher has announced she will retire in June.

Jan McNeely, a physical education teacher, taught at the former South Whidbey Primary School in the mid-1980s before joining the staff at South Whidbey Elementary.

McNeely is also the co-president of the teachers’ union, the South Whidbey Education Association. Along with Val Brown, she has represented the district’s union teachers in contract negotiations.

This week, she held her final Little Dribblers clinic at a South Whidbey High School basketball game. Her colleague and SWHS history teacher Mark Eager announced her retirement plans to the crowd. At mid-court, McNeely received a standing ovation before the basketball half-time show began.

McNeely has been a familiar face at South Whidbey sporting events for more than two decades. She spent

20 years coaching freshman and junior varsity volleyball teams at the high school until she stepped down in 2008.