PORT TOWNSEND — When the final school bell rings in June 2005, it will mark the end of Carol Andreason’s 38-year career in public education.

Andreason, who has been the Port Townsend School District superintendent for five years, said announcing her retirement early gives the School Board a longer time to find her successor.

“This gives the board a chance to set a process and develop a time line,” Andreason, 60, said Wednesday.

She doesn’t expect the board to begin advertising for her successor until the first of the year.

“I hope to stay home for a while,” Andreason said of her retirement plans, which include living in Port Townsend.

She is an educational consultant at the university level and plans to continue to pursue that career following her retirement, except on her own terms.

“When they call me, I’ll be able to say ‘yes, no or maybe,”‘ Andreason said.