For the last two months, I have had the pleasure of teaching a remarkable group of kindergarteners while their amazing teacher, Jasmine Rustemeyer, was out on maternity leave following the birth of her beautiful, twin girls. Unfortunately, with the sudden and necessary closure of the Southern Boone Primary School building due to staffing issues caused by the ever-worsening Covid pandemic, my time as a kindergarten teacher has come to an unceremonious and disappointing end.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before—because you have. You may recall that I taught Music at the Primary School last year, on a one-year contract, when an emergency need arose and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented itself to me. I was busy having the time of my life teaching Music last Spring when Covid forced a premature stoppage of in-person learning and an anticlimactic end to the most rewarding job I had ever held.
The worst part of last Spring’s closure was not being able to say a proper goodbye to the second graders I had grown to love over their three years in the Primary building. I am not ashamed to admit that I shed quite a few tears during the weeks that followed the end of in-person classes and the end of my dream job. Last Saturday, when I read the email informing teachers that we would be switching to virtual learning for the remaining school days until Winter Break, I had tears in my eyes once again.
I could have attempted to teach my students remotely, but I realized that the switch to virtual learning presented an opportunity for Ms. Rustemeyer, my dear friend, to save seven days of Family and Medical Leave by returning to work a little earlier than expected. Her experience of teaching remotely last Spring, and her years of experience as one of the best kindergarten teachers you’ll ever meet, (and my lack of experience on both counts), made it an easy decision for me to make.
Jasmine has graciously invited me to record a video to send out to the kids as a way to tell them how much I love them and how much I will miss them. And when school resumes in January, I plan on popping-in to say hello to my young friends whenever I get the chance. I should have plenty of chances. In late January, I will begin covering a second grade classroom for another teacher/friend who will be taking maternity leave. Hopefully, Covid won’t deprive me of a proper conclusion to a third long-term assignment.
If you are the parent or grandparent of one of Ms. Rustemeyer’s kindergarteners, would you mind reading the following message to them please?
“Dear friend, I have had so much fun getting to know you over the last two months. Ms. Rustemeyer didn’t realize what a wonderful gift she was giving me when she asked last summer if I would like to be her substitute when the time came for her to be home with her babies. I hope you enjoyed our time together as much as I did. I hope you learned a thing or two along the way. Most importantly, I hope you know how much I care about you. You, my friend, are loved.
Ms. Rustemeyer is so excited to see you again. She has missed you as much as I am going to miss you. Please show her all the love you showed me. She will need it. Being away from her babies will be hard for her, so you’ll need to do everything you can to make things easy for her.
Although I won’t be your teacher anymore, this is not goodbye. I will still see you around the Primary School from time to time. Keep an eye open whenever you are on the playground or in the lunchroom or hallway. You never know where I’ll turn up. (I never know where I’ll turn up either!)
Take care of yourself, your classmates, and Ms. Rustemeyer. And have yourself a merry little Christmas!
Love,
Mr. Naughton”
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