Two administrators for Lawrence public schools, with 23 years of combined experience in the district, announced Wednesday they would retire at the end of the school year.

Lawrence Alternative High School Principal Judy Juneau will step down in May after 11 years at the school. Wakarusa Valley School Principal Donna Black will end her tenure as principal after three years.

Juneau will continue to work in the district, on a part-time basis, through the 2005-2006 school year. She will work as a mentor to Lawrence Alternative High School students who will be attending Free State or Lawrence high schools.

School district officials announced in December that this school year would be the last for the off-site Lawrence Alternative High School program. Next year, alternative education programs will be offered at LHS and Free State.

Before serving as principal of the Lawrence Alternative High School, Juneau worked as supervisor of the Extension Program and was a special education teacher at Lawrence High School for nine years. She also worked as a special education teacher in Topeka for 14 years.

Black will wrap up her third year as principal of Wakarusa Valley in May.

Black worked as a teacher and administrator in Derby for 29 years before working in Lawrence.

School district officials say they have already begun a search for candidates to fill the two positions.