Mark Flotlin waved from the curb as the procession of horn-blaring buses pulled out of the Explorer Middle School parking lot into summer vacation.

He smiled as the last bus rolled past Thursday.

As he walked back toward the building, eighth-grader Jenika Baker stopped the longtime middle school principal and asked him to sign her yearbook.

“My mom went to school here when he first started teaching and thought he was hot,” Jenika said. “She said all the girls wanted to get into the new math teacher’s class.”

Thirty years later, Flotlin was back where his teaching career began, but Thursday was his last last day at the south Everett school. (He formally retires Sunday.)

Colleagues and former students described a gentle man who connected well with students. He was the type of teacher whose calmness could keep teenagers on task during a false fire alarm and the kind of leader who could impose discipline on a kid who would thank him later.

“The fact is, I forgot about kids’ mistakes almost by the time they walked out the door,” Flotlin said.

Michele Madrigal, whose daughter, Brijonnay, attends Explorer, was also one of Flotlin’s first students.

Today, she is an educational assistant for students at Explorer Middle School who are learning English as a second language.

When she came to interview for the job three decades later, Flotlin recognized her immediately, greeting her as “Missy Eliason,” her childhood nickname and maiden name.

“He is a good gentlemanly soul,” Madrigal said. “He always has been. He made a big difference while he was here.”

Rising test scores and parent satisfaction surveys bear that out.

Flotlin spent all 30 of his years in education in middle school and 28 of those were in the Mukilteo School District.

He taught math, leadership, science and special education at Explorer for 11 years, was vice principal at Monroe Middle School for two years, assistant principal at Explorer for a year and then principal at Olympic View Middle School in Mukilteo for seven years.

He returned to Explorer as principal in 1998.

“I was ecstatic when he came back,” said Laura Siebens, a librarian who started working at Explorer with Flotlin in 1977. “I just thought at the time if anyone can make changes in this building to the benefit of kids, it’s going to be Mark. Kids would just connect with him.”

Flotlin likes the diversity at his school that goes well beyond the fact that nearly half the students are minorities and more than 60 percent qualify for a free or subsidized lunch based on family income.

Explorer is also home for the Mukilteo district’s middle school Summit program for gifted students.

Somehow, all the groups learn to get along, Flotlin said. He hears from Summit parents about how the school opens their child’s eyes to a wider world and he observes friendships blossom from different social classes through band or sports.

“I think the kids at this school are really compassionate,” he said. “They accept each other for the circumstances they have and that’s quite refreshing.”

Flotlin will soon become a grandfather for the first time and concentrate on his health.

He has Parkinson’s Disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that can impair motor skills and speech.

It’s a subject he hasn’t shied away from if a student asks him about his sometimes slow movements.

When one asks, many more probably wonder, he said.

“The bottom line is I’m a teacher,” he said. “If I can help educate students about anything, including health issues like that, I’m very willing to do it.”

Flotlin said he will leave Explorer knowing it’s in good hands. He has shared principal duties this year with co-principal Ali Williams, who knows the school well, he said.

Come fall, however, it might be tough to keep him away.

“I have not missed a first day of school for 48 consecutive years,” he said. “I have joked with the staff that they may have to watch the gate and heighten security.”

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.