Forest Wiest has given four decades of service to Harford County Public Schools.
Wiest, who currently serves as the Harford County administrator of athletics and supervisor of high school physical education, will be retiring at the end of June after completing his 39th year in the school system.
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“I decided that this would be a good time,” said Wiest, 60. “It has been a good career, a long career. When you?re with one [organization], you get to know how the system works and you build up contacts. It is hard to break away.”
Wiest said he has been mulling over the decision for the past three years. “I won?t be committed to the 50-60 hours a week that I am now,” he said.
Harford County is one of the few large school systems in Maryland that has not split Wiest?s position between athletic administrator and physical education supervisor. No replacement had been named.
Since 1967, Wiest has worked on all levels in the school system. He started as a teacher at Edgewood High School,staying there 25 years and eventually becoming the school?s athletic director. “That was the most satisfying phase, because you are working with the kids and you can see the progress,” Wiest said.
Wiest also coached football at Edgewood for 21 years and had shorter stints as the head coach for the boys? basketball, boys? lacrosse and tennis teams. Wiest became a building administrator and a county supervisor before taking his current position, which he has held for seven years.
“I would hope that whoever takes over uses him as a model,” said Adam Milinoski, athletic director at Harford Tech. “He is always looking out for the athletes.”
Lin James, the head girls? basketball coach for North Harford, has been at that school for 39 years. “We are very sad he is leaving,” she said. “He has always been a professional, and he gave everybody equal attention.”
Bob Slagle is the commissioner of the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference, of which Wiest was a proponent. “Everything he has ever done has been very professional,” Slagle said. “He got the UCBAC off the ground.”
Slagle has worked under Wiest in many capacities over the years, but this summer Slagle will be Wiest?s boss as the head usher at Ripken Stadium. “I like to kid him about that,” Slagle said.
THE WIEST FILE
County: Harford
Position: Administrator of athletics and supervisor of high school physical education
Did you know? Wiest is not the only administrator of athletics to announce retirement this year. Marlene Kelly from Anne Arundel County is also stepping down.
