Lessons from Three Retiring Principals: A Journey Through Education

This episode features three retiring elementary school principals, Mary McKasy of Gleason Lake, Karen Keffeler of Meadow Ridge, and Ross Williams of Sunset Hill, they share insights on their careers, the evolution of education, and their personal journeys. Discover their motivations, memorable moments, and advice for future educators.

00:00 Introduction of Guests and Setting the Scene
01:12 Favorite School Lunches and Last Meals
02:01 Deciding to Retire: Personal Reflections
03:17 What Keeps Principals Coming Back Year After Year
09:29 Experiencing Growth in the School Community
20:24 Changes in Classroom Teaching Over the Years
23:39 Building Trust with Staff, Students, and Families
27:29 Advice for Successors and Final Words of Wisdom
31:39 Surprising Aspects of Being a Principal
36:11 Summing Up a Career in Education
37:46 Reflections on Retirement and Future Plans

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:03

All right, everyone, welcome to the next episode of the Inside Wise podcast. Um, today we have three amazing guests. Um, I think it's important to mention that um as we prepared to record, um, it was kind of, I guess, quintessential principle life. Mary um was was caught up waiting for buses that were stalled out. Yeah. Uh Karen, um, there was perhaps lack of clarity on the invite, went to the wrong building. Uh Ross was here, ready to go, but just the chaos of of recording a podcast with three principals at the end of May, and three principals that are retiring. And so uh we're joined by Mary Mackesee, who is the principal of Gleason Lake Elementary, Karen Kefler, who is the principal at Meadow Ridge Elementary Elementary, and Ross Williams, who is the principal at Sunset Hill Elementary. So thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_05 1:01

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

All right, so we're gonna start off. Start with you, Mary. You supervise thousands of lunch periods. If you had to pick one school lunch to be your last meal before retirement, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

I would pick pizza because I love pizza and I feel like why not?

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Ross, what about you?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Um, I actually have only probably eaten lunch once, and it was orange chicken. Uh, usually I don't find time to eat. I'm eating almonds on the run. Um, there are days where at 2 30 I might try to sneak something before those buses. Um, but I'd probably have to say orange chicken.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

By you, Karen.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Ah, tomato soup and grilled cheese standing up in the cafeteria, because that's what that's what happens.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

While you're supervising.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yes, that's what happens.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

That tomato soup's pretty great. So the three of you are retiring. What went into that decision? Why now for retirement, Karen?

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Uh early on in my career, I'd always set a goal that 60, when I turn 60, it'll be my retirement date. And like in the blink of an eye, I'm 60. And I don't know. It's you know, you always think of it, and it's just it's weird that it's finally here. And um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Well, like Karen, the time has gone incredibly fast. You never I've gone to all these retirements for other people, and you don't think it's ever gonna be you. But I think why I decided is I feel like I'm healthy and I just want to have something that's less demanding, and I just have more time for myself and to spend with family. So I'm looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

Oh, you're asked.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Um, probably similar to Karen and Mary. Uh, it's not like I ever going back to what um Karen had mentioned, I didn't ever have a goal or a target in mind, although maybe I did, in that I didn't really ever see going until 60. Um, if there were opportunities to uh maybe ease into 60 or do some things differently, while again, I could. Um that probably is what weighed into my decision. Um, when I say do some things, um, I want to be able to ride a bike, go on hikes, um, surf, do some things that I've been wanting to do for a while, and I don't know if I'll be able to do them to the same level as I'm older. So I was kind of looking at that and always have been.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

Has it hit any of you yet that like, you know, where it's May 18th, so we're plus or minus two or three weeks away from the last day of school? Has it hit you that like, well, this is it, or are we too deep into like the the day-to-day life of school to even think about that?

SPEAKER_02 4:05

No, I got teary twice last week. Kindergartners surprised me with this cute little verse in their kindergarten program, and then fourth grade did some read readers' theater from their curriculum, and they just said the kindest things before they started. And so, yeah, it's getting it's getting real.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Mm-hmm. I think it for sure. I feel like I had a retirement celebration last week, and just the heartfelt things that the staff shared with me, as well as the students and the PTO, it becomes more real. I think for me, everybody knows I've saved tons of stuff. So, you know, I'm going through a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

There may have been a moment, was it two or three years ago when we were tasked with uh condensing about storage we were using? And there was Mary had a lot of a lot of storage space she was utilizing. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

So I not only have electronic storage space, I have a lot of like files, right? So, but I get caught up instead of just dumping them in the garbage, like reading through emails that I've printed out or letters that I've gotten or just things like that that I look fondly back on. But it helps, I think, bring closure to my time at Gleason.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

Well, your acid hit you.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Um, yeah, I mean, in the same way. And there are probably moments in time where you aren't thinking about it. I people ask how many days you have left. I'm like, I don't know. And that's partly because I think I always probably would answer if someone asked me what time of day it was. I don't know. Just need to get to A to B.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

You you were punctured punctual for this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

But I it it's coming and um kids have said some things, parents said some nice things in our are carnival, and I think all those are probably indicators of it, it is real. Um, I probably won't really know it's it probably really won't hit me until it's August or September, when usually we're getting prepared for the start of another school year.

SPEAKER_03 6:14

So I guess after all these years working in education, and you know, you've you've all worked in different roles. Um what kept you coming back year after year? I mean, education can be challenging, right? Like I'm I don't need to tell all of you that, but Ross, what kept you coming back year after year in a role like this?

SPEAKER_00 6:39

The people, uh the people that I worked with, um, the kids, of course. Um and I've been at a actually I think Mary Ann and Karen both have at secondary level and elementary school level. And, you know, they they say some pretty cute, enduring things that just kind of stick with you. Um, and then working on the other end at times, just seeing the growth that they make and the ones that come back and connect with uh with you later on and the things that they've they're doing. I mean, just to be able to be a part of that in some degree is I think that's what kept coming back. It was pretty um, pretty satisfying uh to know that you're helping people.

SPEAKER_06 7:25

How about you, Mary?

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Well, I just think every single day you have an opportunity to make a difference, whether it's in children's lives or the teachers that you're working with or the parents. So I find it it's like incredibly rewarding along with the demands. But I feel like I've always seen myself in some kind of a service-oriented job. And I think what just keeps me coming back is you know the impact that you can make over time. And just I enjoy being with people, and it's an amazing, you know, to get to work with educators every single day and see what they can do with children and and to be in this community that's been incredibly supportive for me as a teacher as well as an administrator. I can't imagine being have spent my career anywhere else.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Um at no other job are you able to start fresh every year? It's it's a new year and and setting new goals and um meeting a new class of kindergartners, and it really is the people. Um, and just just that feeling of newness, the excitement that's does that change at all?

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Is that year to year? Is it always kind of the same feeling? I'm sure you you get more used to it, but does it change like kind of that that buzz or that excitement that typically comes with the first day of school? Or is it all kind of the same?

SPEAKER_02 8:56

It's always there. It's just it's it's a new year, and um, and like Marion Ross said, it really is the people. I mean, there are just amazing people in this district, teachers, parents, students, um, support staff. It's we I have been incredibly blessed to be in this district for 27 years.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

Yeah, so let's talk about that a little bit. So you've all been here for different amounts of times, but long enough to really experience that the community, and you've seen a lot of growth, right? So you're at Meadow Ridge, which was opened in 20, what is that, 16. So what has it been like to see to work in work in the community and also see how the district has grown from when you started to where it is now?

SPEAKER_02 9:44

I have loved um just the richness of the population growth. Um, you know, we are I you know we are an amazing district where people come from uh come to us from international places and and YZA is their choice. And um just to have that um just to have have all of that within our community and incredibly supportive parents and people come to YZ because they value education, and that again is just a gift. Um every single parent wants what's best for their child, and they have chosen YZ to give their children that. And um that is um, yeah, that's that's a uh it's a it's a I don't know what the word I'm looking for, but um it's it's a gift and it's an opportunity and um we need to do that, we need to give our best to the families.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Been in the district for a long time. What has it been like to see the growth and work in this community?

SPEAKER_01 11:04

I just think from when I started teaching to now, I've always felt that the community was incredibly supportive. So I think about the growth no matter if we're adding buildings or changing, redistricting and the reboundaries. Um everyone has helped make those shifts and making the best we could for families. And I feel like so fortunate that our district colleagues really we work together very collaboratively. So it's almost as if you don't recognize the growth till you really sit back and think about how many elementaries we have added and the things that we've gone through over time. But just feeling super fortunate because everybody takes the time to think about how that's going to play out for families and for staffing. I think it's been uh pretty easy journey knowing we've been a growing district and that people last Karen said want to come and want to be with us and continue to support. I mean, what other district passes these referendums like they do to keep us, you know, feeling so supported in everything that we can do?

SPEAKER_03 12:20

And that and that growth, like it's one thing from a district level to see enrollment numbers like this, but all of you are in a school building. And is there a is there an element of it of trying to make it feel smaller, I guess, even though the district is growing, like you're still trying to like personalize it and make it for each student to have a just a good experience every day.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Yeah, I mean, that is our that's our charge. Um I also don't know that in some situations we from a size standpoint, um, some of our buildings get really big and there's this fluctuation as we're we're changing. So it becomes um kind of tight feeling at times. I'd echo the same things, I think, that um both Mary and Karen had talked about with just support. Um, sometimes going through a process of determining enrollment boundary shifts is not easy. And so support might sound kind of like an odd way to describe it, but everyone's at the table. Everyone, it means something to everyone. And when decisions are made, they're made and we're moving on. Um the other thing I think, and I think Mary, you were the one that said it that I'll remember is the group of um nine, 10 principles that work together real, really closely at the elementary level. I mean, we have to because our experiences collectively are I think what we're trying to deliver on as a as a district. So it it's it's enjoyable to some degree to work with people, pick up the phone, and I'm working through this. What about you? Uh, those are helpful. And in districts this large, I don't know that that always can be said.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

And I think when we we all try to be as much similar as we can so that we can give the same experience to our students when you think about it in terms of their educational experience in our buildings. So no matter which building they're at, we hope that they have a similar academic experience.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

So, Karen, you've been in YZETA for a long time, but you started your career elsewhere. What makes YZA different? And ultimately, like, what is something that you see in students and staff that makes it so unique?

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Um, the first thing that comes to my mind whenever I talk about that, my experiences in other districts is that in this district, teachers value and ask for professional learning. They want to grow, they want to get better, they know um how important their role is in student success. And that has always been something that I have not taken for granted since moving to this district because I've seen in other districts where it's not as important. And I think that's one of the things that that makes YZA what it is.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

Ross, can you think of a challenge or a you know, quote unquote failure that you might have experienced as a leader that actually made you better in the long run after going through it? Because I obviously all of you are perfect, but if there were a moment that you slipped up just a little.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Um, yeah, I have a lot, a lot of failures and slip-ups. Um, you know, I looking in, and I thought you were gonna ask me the same question about a previous district, but I think maybe it holds true for um both in answering that question. I think um learning and really continuing to um listen, uh listen a lot more than just acting. And when I say that, I mean really trying to hear what other people are saying when ideas are generated as opposed to just leading means doing. I think it leads a it means a lot more than that. And that's where the collaboration and working with people to find solutions to things, make adjustments. Um so listening even more. I mean, I I think I do a pretty good job of that, but I don't know that I always did that. Probably came maybe with with time.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

I think something that I've thought about, yeah, we've had a lot of times that you think back and you could have done better, but I think it's under being more understanding of different perspectives. I don't think I understood that when I, you know, you kind of think you maybe not that I know the answer or those kind of things, but you kind of go in sometimes to hard situations. And I think I've really learned from some masterful people that I've had an opportunity to work closely with about hear the other be curious, hear the other person's perspective, think about there's probably not there's there's not a right answer, but there's the both and um that I think has just helped me over time in really hard situations is to um just take more time to listen, reflect on what the person is saying and hear the impact of maybe what I had done in that situation that could have been improved.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

Um I would echo their thoughts and it is um everyone's perspective of any situation is different and really learning that and when your impact was not your intent, just apologizing and doing better. When we know better, we do better, and it really is learning from every interaction, every situation um to just move forward and try to do better every day.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

On the flip side of that, there's there's probably been moments where you're you're like, this is why I do this. Is there like a recent moment that you've been able to take a step back amidst all the chaos and and just really kind of reinforce like this is why I'm a principal?

SPEAKER_02 18:30

I think it's those everyday moments of joy um, whether it's a student coming up to you and sharing a wonderful or silly story, or um, you know, staff members who um who are vulnerable and and again want to do well and um sharing that and you know, every day when kids come into the building, you really this is why I do this that you just want to make it the best possible experience that you can.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

I would echo that. It's it's seeing the little moments of joy that that students and staff have. It's probably not big things, but it's the day-to-day um achievements that you know I mean, something that I'm probably switching it now that really brings me joy is just watching kids walk into school every day. They are happy and excited. And it's like that's what makes me want to be there, is they come every day. And, you know, it's it's pretty exciting watching them get off the bus or just come in at the hallway. I mean, they're all excited to be with their friends, and it's a great, it's a great thing to be part of that, to work with happy, fun students.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

We've talked about how at times it's really challenging and not to just reiterate what my colleagues have said. But if you're having a bad moment and you're working in an elementary school, once you're finished with that, uh, whatever it is, go find some kids, go into a classroom and just engage and say, tell me what you're talking about, teach me, tell me, show me. And you'll probably walk out of there 15 minutes later feeling pretty good. So you have to seek it out because sure the job is demanding, but there are always ways to, I guess, remind you as to what you did. And they're right there. There's 700 of them in the building.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

So how has uh how has school changed from when you started your journey as a principal to where it is now? What's like the biggest thing that has changed in your mind?

SPEAKER_01 20:46

What I think has changed the most is maybe the classroom. When I think about it, I think when I started teaching, we thought a good classroom was one that was well managed, the teacher was in control, and everybody was quiet. That's how I think in the desks and rows. Right. We did that. That's probably the system I grew up in. So then we sometimes replicate the system that we've been experienced to. And we've certainly come a long way to think about what's the heart of a room is the students taking ownership of their learning. It's the teacher being the facilitator. It's okay when kids are talking and learning because that's a we learn by interacting and talking with one another. So that for me has probably been the biggest shift from when I was teaching to think about how I needed to manage a classroom and instruct to what I see amazing teachers do today.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Is that hard to shift like to to what you when you when you're doing the thing, you're teaching and now you're overseeing it? Is it hard to switch what you at one point believe was a way to do something?

SPEAKER_02 21:58

I think it's all it's that professional. Learning. And every time I'm in a classroom, even still, I think about how much I miss it. Because you see the relationships that the teachers form with the students and what they're doing now, more groups, more student voice, more ownership in the learning. And um it's it's energizing to Ross's point. If you're having a bad moment, go into a classroom and just watch the magic happen. And I think it's just it's the instructional strategies has just changed for the better in the 38 years that I've been doing this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

The experiences that kids have that we provide are definitely different. Um, but we're responding, and that feels good to their experiences, the way that they learn best. Um it isn't just sitting in desks and rows and everybody is quiet. So um what is the phrase? The the one that does the learning. Um doing the talking and doing the talking, doing the learning, doing the work, just doing the learning, which is really, really true. Um which also goes along the same lines as what Karen was saying about the the desire to learn more as a as a as a teacher. So when we're learning, we actually are impacting the kids' experiences. So it just it does translate in this thirst and desire for people to want to know more and assuming I want to know more and giving them that, I think always translates to the the kid's experience.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

I feel like one of our goals working in education, obviously, you you all are in the classroom. I talk into a microphone every once in a while, but the the goal is to build trust, right? Whether that's with students or your staff, families, a community. How do you think you've helped build that trust within your specific school community since you've been there? What's kind of them what's one of the ways you've you've done that?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

One thing that comes to mind, I think, um, that I know that teachers have gotten kind of really appreciated is just our work in in teams and plcs and uh learning specifically from each other, different strategies or ideas.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

And what's a PLC for someone listening that doesn't professional learning community?

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Um I will use the team interchangeably sometimes. Um but but this wanting to know and see what their colleagues are doing next door, or to try to answer a question about um a problem that they're having with really engaging students. Um, I see more and more of that and have in the last five years, at least at Sunset Hill, with them wanting to see what their colleagues are are teaching. We call them uh learning walks recently. And uh that that is actually really motivating and exciting when you um just the discussion that teachers are having um when they're when they're doing those things, and then they're taking that information and translating it to their their own classroom. So there's definitely uh transparency in a community and um it's kind of it's not kind of, it's super cool.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

For me, I think a lot about building trust is just that my words and my actions, they they match. If I say I'm gonna do something, I try to follow through to the best of my ability. I also think about just my communication, visibility, being there for staff to try to encourage them, support them on the they need support just like the students, and they know that I need that support and figuring out that working relationship that I'm there for you and you're there for for each other and me. I think I've been there 18 years, and I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of the same staff for those 18 years. So just knowing what people need, being there for them. And I always feel I live by I believe people bring their best self to work. And we also know that that fluctuates with what's going on in their personal life and just some of the hardships that they have, but being that knowing they can be themselves is a really important thing for me. And I'm gonna be real too. Like, this is who I am.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

Never question that with you, Mary. Never question that, Sam.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

I think it's that it's it's listening, just really listening. And what do you need? And how can I say yes? Um, and how can I support you in taking a risk? And that when you make a mistake, it's okay. Like what just we tried something new, and if it doesn't work, that's okay. Don't don't be afraid to try new things, don't be um don't be afraid to go out on those limbs because that's sometimes where you really find the greatest the greatest things. Um and and to Mary's point, I don't know if I said it, but just being visible, just being visible and um making sure that you um you're just meeting the needs as best you can.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

So all three of you are there will be successors to um that will replace you in your at your schools, kind of different for all of you. For you, Karen, um Sarah Bath's coming from Oakwood, for you, Ross, Cassie, as Ben at Sunset Hill. And then for you, Mary, it's it's Amanda who is coming from outside um of Wiseout. So I'll come back to you if you were to leave a sticky note for Sarah Bath, what would it say?

SPEAKER_07 28:06

You're gonna love it here. Yeah, Ross. You got this.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

And then for you it's a little different, like someone coming from outside of the district. What would that message be?

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Just take time to listen, to learn from this amazing staff, and just to spend time building relationships because you're gonna have an opportunity to work with amazing people and families, so just be present with them. And I think the rest will come.

SPEAKER_06 28:45

Okay, a little bit of a lightning round.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

Um you did the school lunch. What is your favorite spirit wear theme?

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Oh my gosh. So, what's going around in kind of the world and Instagram are the underground spirit days where the teachers know this, like the grown-ups know, but the kids don't.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

So like you wear like monochrome day or denim tuxedo day or anything but a water bottle day, or and then like maybe day three, the kids start figuring out there's something going on. And then they try to guess, which that that's a lot of fun. And that again, that builds that camaraderie between the adults because if you are not having fun, um that's hard. We have to have fun at what we do.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

So I think my favorite one was dress like a student because they dress like us, and that's really funny.

SPEAKER_03 29:44

But what they wear.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Well, you know, sometimes I don't know, it's like leisure wear, you know, the apple leisure, you know. It's funny what they envision us, or you know, but that's probably my favorite one.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

I don't know. I maybe it's because I don't think about too much about dress up, but I always like to fry it. I just wear my Y Z shirt. So when anything athletic, why Z athletics, just uh wearing that I think would be probably my my favorite, maybe because it was easy. Um crazy socks have been kind of funny.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

Yeah. Oh, that's easy.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

You have crazy socks under an hour.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

No, uh, I don't know, really. It's good. Um I remember in being in school and the principal was kind of intimidating. Um so I want to ask like, if I were to find one of your former students out in the world and said, Principal Kefler is what would they say?

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Well, I have a funny story back when I went from East to Sunset Hill because Sunset Hill, all the families came to East. And I was in the cafeteria probably the first week of school, and this little girl looks at me and she says, My brother goes to East and he thinks you're mean. You think, well, as an assistant principal, yeah, sometimes you have to give the consequences that they don't like. So I just smiled and I said, Well, your brother might think that, and I hope that after we get to know each other, you won't think that I'm mean.

SPEAKER_03 31:21

So if I saw that same student, they would say you're mean yeah, yeah. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Oh, I don't know. I haven't thought about that one. I guess maybe what I'd hope they'd say is that I'm kind.

SPEAKER_03 31:38

Not mean. Not mean, not mean.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

When I'm in the lunchroom, right? The lunchroom's a whole different thing. Here you gotta hold the lines. It is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Cool. And I'm only saying that because uh at our carnival that we had, um, one of our an eighth grader who had come over with family and neighbors had said had made that comment. Oh, you know, you were the coolest principal. I'm like, thanks. Ross is Ross is pretty cool. I would agree.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Not sure what that really meant for that. What is cool to find cool? We didn't get into the depth of cool.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

Um, what is something that would surprise people the most about what the job of being a principal entails?

SPEAKER_02 32:28

There are some crazy things that happen. I've been doing this for a long time, and every year I just something happens, and you say, Oh, this has never happened before. And now I mean, there are some really interesting things that happen in a school.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

I'm not sure if we need to go down the road.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

But yeah, there might be oh my gosh, yeah. You just shake your head sometimes, and sometimes you just laugh because they're touching and funny, and some are tragic and sad. And um, and it's what makes it all a gift to do the job.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

Anything jump out to either of you.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

Yeah, uh sometimes I'm I'm flattered by some of the things that that someone might expect that I should know, like really minute detail, and it'd be like, I'm I'm sorry I don't know that. I know I am the principal, but I guess I can answer that question for you. I don't have a really good example, but that's happened a few times. Um, and you know, you do the best you can to point them in the right direction, but also feel bad that I haven't been able to deliver on that expectation when it's probably 200 on the you know on the list of things that happen over the course of the day. But you're the principal. Yeah, I sorry.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

Don't have all the answers.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Yeah. I can usually find them though. So I just call Mary. Can you look? Can you look for the email that came back in 2016? This was the Mary keeps all of her stuff.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Mary keeps her emails we know somebody somebody's gonna wish they had those.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

Yeah. She she can find them.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

She carries the history. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

All right, what is one thing you won't miss once you're retired?

SPEAKER_07 34:33

I think just the early the early mornings. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

For me, that one's easy. I will not miss the chameleon. I drive from St. Paul every day. The morning's usually easy, but the night never is. Right? And the snow.

SPEAKER_03 34:53

You should calculate your miles.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

I know I was trying to figure that out. Ross and I were trying to do that one day. Oh my god. How many, how many hours or years have I spent driving?

SPEAKER_03 35:05

Maybe don't figure that out.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

No, I'll give it to a fifth grader. They'll do a math.

SPEAKER_07 35:10

Right, right, right. Um something I won't miss.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

Yeah. Videos, podcasts, perhaps. Probably. Late buses.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

We will not miss late buses. They don't happen that often, not anybody, but yeah, I won't miss those. Um, yeah, probably the videos and the podcasts. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

Okay, well, I guess we'll cross off your invite for the next one. Um, have do you any of you have like a secret place to hide when you just like want to like get away from anyone? Or have you ever hid somewhere that you maybe wouldn't can always want to admit?

SPEAKER_00 36:12

I've I've never hid somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Yeah, I can't say I've ever hid. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

Um and with our overcrowding, there is no place to really find a corner. Um yeah, I don't. There's not a place that I would say I would hide or I have hidden.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

No hiding up. Okay. No. It's probably a good answer.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Um if you could sum up your I have felt sometimes like people think I might be hiding out. Because they'll come to the door and the office door shut. I'm on the phone or doing something there, but you know, and and I my walkie's going off, so I'm trying to make sure I'm getting out there, but I'm right in the middle of something. So I felt that maybe that's a wonderment, but definitely not hiding.

SPEAKER_03 37:04

I think I've probably at some point come into all of your offices and you weren't there. And I was wondering if it was intentional, but probably in classrooms, you know, doing what you should be doing. Um if you could kind of sum up your career in like a sentence, what would it be?

SPEAKER_07 37:30

Incredibly challenging, but yet fulfilling. I'd probably say extremely rewarding, demanding, and a humbling experience. Um yeah, I would say just so joyful and stressful.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

And just every day is so different. Um just been a gift. I've said that a couple of times now, but just to be I've just been really fortunate to uh be inwise out of schools and work with everyone.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

Well, Ross, this was we're to the end, so you don't have to, you know, dread coming on any more of these anymore. But um does anyone have a countdown of how many days left until they're f I mean there's like the I feel like there's the end of the school year um when students are here, and then there's uh when you actually clean out the the desk or the office. Maybe that's already started.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

I I started uh a little bit today, actually. I saw some files and I went, okay, I need to I need to clean these. How many days do we have left? Nine, 10, 11, 12, 13? Not sure. I think 13.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

And whenever this airs, it'll be right.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

And then June 30, June 30 for all of us.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

So are you gonna collectively do something on June 30th?

SPEAKER_02 39:13

I think I think we should. I think we should.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

We do another podcast.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

We could do a podcast.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

I almost know how do you feel the tell the tell all podcast. We told that to uh to to Chase that we could do uh oh he could join us.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

There we go. Good.

SPEAKER_03 39:29

Yeah, what is it? Um how does it feel to be overshadowed on all of your retirements with uh Dr. Anderson? I guess in seriousness though, like to go out with him must be kind of cool for for all of you.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

Yeah, I I just when he when he came to all of us and announced that he was retirement retiring, I it w it came as a surprise. And then um I was just I I was grateful though that he's been such uh an incredible leader and to be able to spend um all of these years with him and just retiring together. It's kind of cool actually.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

I would agree. Chase hired me, so we came on 18 years ago together. I'd been in the district, but yeah, it's pretty cool to think about we came in at the same time. I've learned so much from him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

I certain certainly haven't had that time that Karen and Mary have had, but I would echo echo that. I mean, working with Chase and it is kind of nice to go out with the great guy who gave me a chance here.

SPEAKER_05 40:44

So cool.

SPEAKER_03 40:47

Well, for to all three of you, thank you for um for joining us and for all the fun over the years and best wishes in retirement and not driving and surfing and whatever else. Whatever else you have to do. Because that's not something you can do in education. No, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

Thank you.

unknown 41:11

Thank you.