It was with deep regret that the Mineola Board of Education accepted the resignation for the purposes of retirement of Jackson Avenue School Principal Ida Ayres.

For 23 years Ayres was the principal of the Jackson Avenue School and she loved every minute of it. "It has been a joyful experience for me," she said. "I have had a 23-year party, no question. I have learned from them [the students]. I have loved them. I have enjoyed every single moment."

At Thursday night's meeting of the board of education, the board accepted with regret Ayres resignation. Board President Donna Strein, who has had her children go through the Jackson Avenue School, reflected on the atmosphere Ayres created in the Jackson Avenue School. "Ida calls all her students her children," Strein said.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lorenzo Licopoli also paid tribute to the longtime principal saying, "You've touched so many lives."

Ayres came to Mineola after teaching at St. John's University for a year and being principal of Holy Family School in New Rochelle. She found a home in the Jackson Avenue School, where she witnessed, she said, the great spirit of inventiveness and great enthusiasm of young children. "I saw some of the most creative, loving children, children who, by today's standards are old-fashioned in that they had wonderful family values; they're respectful; they are eager to learn and they're just memorable children. They have always been," she said.

Now that Ayres is leaving, she has mixed emotions. She feels, however, that it is time to leave since many of her goals have been met and she is ready for the next chapter in her life as Director of Student Teaching at Molloy College.

But, she'll always have her memories of the Jackson Avenue School. "I will miss every single thing about them [the students] from their smiles to their questions, which are always so insightful, because they're pure to their pictures that they draw me to their letters trying to convince me to let them go outdoors to make snowmen on snowy days," she said.

The students, parents and staff members she has met over the years at the Jackson Avenue School have become, she said, an extension of her family. The staff has seen her through the birth of her grandchildren, the marriage of her son, through the deaths of her mother, father and husband. "They have been supportive and loving. They have just been an extension of my family. There are not enough words to describe how wonderful these people are," said Ayres.

Ayres will retire as of June 1 but her memories, and the memories of her will be forever cemented at the Jackson Avenue School.