On September 23, three months before my birthday, I hit the submit button renewing my teaching license. The last time I did so, five years ago, I had a remarkably fast turnaround, getting my new license in less than 10 days. I knew it would be different this time – everything is different now – so I hit the button and forgot about it.
The email arrived on Thursday

Now, it used to be that teachers got an actual license in the mail. Several years ago, they stopped sending the paper and gave you a digital image. This time through, I could find no digital image to send to HR. Instead the email stated, matter-of-factly that Employers can view your license record through the Public Search feature of eLicensing, and you can print a copy of the Licenses tab to use as proof of licensure.
Weird, I thought as I took a screen shot of the page and searched for the person in HR I should let know. Like, the image of my license, it was not to be found, but I found an orange button that said EMAIL HUMAN RESOURCES so I did.
I went back to the License Tab. When I’d filled out the form, I’d accidently left off one of my endorsements and I wanted to see if they’d included it. They had, but I discovered something far more interesting. My license expires on December 23, 2026. That’s the year I hit 30 years in our retirement system and the year I can retire on a full pension. This will be my last teaching license.
It would have been nice to get a paper copy.