Happy 84th Birthday to my Mom in Heaven

THE ONE WHERE I GOT A MORTGAGE 1993-1994: Wichita Public Schools: Peterson K-5 Library

1993-94 School Year Picture

Brad's parents offered us daycare for our son Logan at no cost. This allowed us to have enough money for a down payment on a home. In the summer of 1993 it was a sellers market. Homes would go on the market only to be sold within the same day. We finally found a home in Haysville that was four years old. We moved in the day before the 1993-1994 school year began. 

Brad doing a gymnastics demonstration for Peterson's second graders

At school many teachers did not like the flexible scheduling model that we used. Some of the teachers would glare at me during their students' library lessons because they were required to stay in the library with me as library was not contractual planning time. I feel like a few of the teachers like my bestie’s Penny Carter and Shelley Nikel really appreciated me and what I was doing for the building. One of the best examples of flexible Library scheduling occurred when the second grade classes had a gymnastics story in their reading textbook. I brought in my husband who was a collegiate gymnast for a demonstration. The kids loved it. At a district level I feel that the Director of Library Media Services, Mary Schumacher really respected me as she asked me to be a part of district wide library initiatives. 

My teaching years when our boys were young honestly are a blur. I did learn early on that if I used my time wisely on the clock, I would not have to take anything home with me. I also did not give grades which helped. For the teachers that embraced the flexible scheduling concept and allowed me to truly be an extension of their classroom it was an incredible experience. For those that didn’t I simply became a plan break. I actually had one teacher that absolutely refused to come to the library with her class. I did not know what to do so I allowed it. Can any of my Peterson friends guess who I am talking about?

Can you find me in this staff picture?

Since I came into the Wichita Public Schools  with  7 years experience I only had to go through a two year probationary period before I was granted tenure. It was quite the ordeal. You were constantly evaluated by your Principal and if you were a specialist you were also evaluated by your District level director,  Mary Schumacher. She was fantastic. The final evaluation to determine if you were to be tenured was given by a “Downtown Bigwig”. My evaluator was Paul Spacial. He gave me a remarkable review. His great review granted me tenure as well as allowing me to move on to a different type of evaluation that was for exemplary  teachers. Wow, I was honored. 

During my second year at Peterson there was a teacher that I felt was rude to me. I was going to confront her but never did. I came to later learn that she just had a very dry sense of humor and was an introvert.  In my many years as an educator I now know that teachers come with many different personalities and teaching styles. As someone who is an extrovert some see me as loud and attention seeking. For me, my personality makes me a GREAT Teacher. I have been honored to work with many different types of teachers throughout my career. 

My Art Teacher friend and I with our babies

During my second year at Peterson I became friendly with our Art Teacher Shelley Hageman. She too was a first time Mother and homeowner. I enjoyed working with her.

At the end of my second year at Peterson I discovered that I was pregnant with our second child. 

Stay tuned for my next blog entry entitled THE ONE WHERE I WAS PREGNANT WITH MY SECOND CHILD 1994-1995: Wichita Public Schools: Peterson K-5 Library. I will publish it 8/14/21.