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NORTON -- Norton Middle School students bounded toward summer vacation with less fanfare than perhaps the day deserved.

Blame a Parent. Principal Roger Parent wanted to retire without hoopla. That's why the last day of school last Wednesday ended on a routine note.

"I just wanted the year to end the way it always did," Parent, 61, said Monday during an interview in his office.

Parent, who guided the middle school through the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - his first full week of class - will have spent 39 1/2 years in public education, the last seven at the middle school's helm, when he officially retires Aug. 31.

His Norton retirement plans became public only this spring. Two weeks ago, the middle school student council honored him with the first class recognized on the school's new Retired Teacher and Staff Wall of Honor. Each of the 32 honorees has a plaque noting their years of service.

Parent found the tribute touching.

"To be with people who have left their mark on a school. I felt very privileged to be included in that group," he said.

The group includes Stanley Koss, a Norton educator from 1969 to 2001.

Koss was the first and only other principal of the building, which opened in September 1998.

Parent succeeded him on July 1, 2001.

He had just retired from the Cumberland, R.I., school district after 32 years there, the last five as principal of North Cumberland Middle School.

Parent's memories of that time influenced the last day of school in Norton last week. "I had a big hurrah when I left Rhode Island," Parent said. "I didn't need another one. I didn't want another one."

Although he had retired once, Parent was the new kid in school when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks struck. He recalled being in the superintendent's office for an administrative team meeting when the news spread.

"We had to get back to school to see what the fallout was going to be," Parent said. "We didn't know if the kids knew. We didn't know if the teachers knew. It wasn't easy. How do you tell kids?" Parent said that if anyone questioned his leadership, being new to Norton, he doesn't recall hearing it. "I think most people just sat back and said, 'Let's see how the new guy is going to do this,' " Parent said.

That then-Assistant Principal Brian Friary, who had been at the middle school since 1987 and was familiar to parents alleviated some concerns, he said.

Parent said two changes at the middle school stand out from the past seven years. Three years ago, the school moved to 48-minute classes, an increase of two minutes.

This year, the school brought back world language for the sixth grade, five years after budget cuts axed that curriculum.

Parent said he'll miss the students and the staff. "I'm glad I had the opportunity to be here," he said. "Seven years was a long time. I think this middle school is on the right track."

Where Parent heads next, not even he knows. He might seek a job at a private or parochial school, "a smaller scale, no pressure of the MCAS."

He'll remain involved with the Netop District of Rhode Island's Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Parent takes care of scouts' advancement in the district, which serves Providence, Cranston, North Providence, Foster, Glocester, Johnston, Smithfield and Scituate. He works with Eagle and Cub scouts.

Parent has been involved in scouting for about 20 years - or, about half his career in public education.

Parent said he knew it was time to retire again when he awoke one morning and said to himself, "Maybe it's time."

"Most of the people I worked with in Rhode Island have been retired a number of years," said Parent, who turns 62 next month. "I thought, 'Maybe it's my turn.'"

MICHAEL GELBWASSER covers Norton for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.