ST. JOHN | Janet Emerick pulls up a chair at a conference table in her office and bluntly says she doesn't know why The Times wants to write a story about her.

"I'm not important," she said. "The kids are important."

She insists it's no big deal she's retiring, that people aren't interested. They'll go to her farewell party as they would a wake - a quick walk past, pay their respects and then home to watch TV, she said.

But Emerick has been synonymous with the Lake Central School Corp. for decades, the last 14 of those years as superintendent. And, whether she admits it or not, her absence will be noticed.

Emerick, raised in Joliet, Ill., landed in the field of education after her knack for English nudged her down that path. Back in those days, a woman could become a teacher or a nurse, she said.

After college, she taught in LaGrange, Ind., in the Lakeland School Corp. for 11 years.

As she and her husband, Bob Emerick, drove between LaGrange and Joliet to visit family, they'd pass through Dyer and Schererville and talked about how it'd be a nice place to live some day.

That day came in 1980 when Janet Emerick was hired as assistant principal at Lake Central High School, and the Emericks moved to St. John.

Emerick worked her way up, becoming director of instruction and assistant superintendent before being named superintendent in 1994.

In her early days, there was no Freshman Center wing at the high school, and the cafeteria was half its current size. In the 1980s, the school had an outdoor smoking area for students, she said.

Since she started, the corporation built a new middle school and renovated or added on to every school. In the last 16 years, the corporation added 174 classrooms, not including those in Clark Middle, which opened in January.

Dealing with the facilities was the biggest challenge, she said.

Emerick often fielded demands for a second high school to help manage the explosive population growth in St. John Township. Even as she retires, she won't say whether it's a good or bad idea. It's up to the residents, and parents make up only one-third of the taxpayers in the township, she points out.

But dealing with the stress of the job wasn't as rough as dealing with the stress of being a wife and mother. It's a balancing act that her male superintendent counterparts might not feel as much.

"It would've been easier if I'd had a wife," Emerick joked.

Her colleagues admire her diplomacy and her genuine care for the corporation.

"She's willing to listen," said Tom Dykiel, the district's finance director.

She hears all sides of a story before making a decision, and she embraces the idea of teamwork, said Larry Veracco, the district's director of personnel.

"It's been an excellent learning experience for me, because Dr. Emerick is the embodiment of a true public servant," Veracco said.

Now, she's ready to leave it behind and retire in South Carolina. Her last day is June 27.

She talks of retiring like some people talk about falling in love.

"You know," she said. "You just know it's time."