How would you announce your resignation?

I am never going to give anything but my absolute in the classroom and my problem lately is that I come home and I am exhausted and I don’t have enough energy for my kids. At some point, something has to give and it’s not fair for either group, my kids at home or my students here to suffer because I am tired.”

How did you finally decide that this was what was really best for you and your family?

“This past semester things kind of fell into place for us as a family. We moved to Grand Rapids to this amazing little community that truly embodies what we feel like are important things for us. It´s truly an ´it takes a village environment. I had two student teachers who were just phenomenal, and I looked at those two individuals and was like ‘wow this is the next generation’ and they are amazing. Seeing that helped me realize that there are so many great next generation teachers. There was no way I was ever going to step away from this job and my students if I didn’t know there were great potential candidates available so that kind of solidified everything for us.”

What emotions are there for you and your classes during these last few weeks?

“Bittersweet definitely comes to mind. There is some sadness because this is 13 years of teaching for me, 11 in this building, and this feels like home to me and I am kind of stepping away from my home and my comfort zone here to be with my family.”