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When School and Family Life Collide
By Andrea DeTuliis of the North Star Staff
Students live in two different worlds. One is filled with the bustle of school: clubs, homework, friends, and teachers. The other revolves around home: relatives, chores, family gatherings, and dinner conversations. But for some students, these two worlds collide and the teacher who lectured them in English class might be the same person who made them tuna casserole for dinner last night.
Almost a dozen students have parents teaching at North as of this year. Among them is Sophomore Janessa Sayavedra who took her mother Tracey Sayavedra’s Spanish class last year. Having someone she knew that well teaching her proved to be advantageous. Janessa said she felt more comfortable than most students when asking her mother, and teacher, questions in class. She also grew very familiar with teachers at North as a freshman. She knows how to get a hold of them if need be by asking her mother for their contact information and free hours. And who needs a locker? Janessa uses her mom’s classroom as an easier place to store her books. However, while there are advantages to having a mom so close by, there are also disadvantages to having a two-sided authority figure at school.
“She knows more about what she can expect from me because…being a teacher, she knows what to expect of most students…her expectations for me are a little bit higher,” said Janessa.
Mrs. Sayavedra didn’t have to look in her daughter’s planner to know what Janessa’s obligations were for Spanish class every night. She also knew if Janessa had had time to finish her assignments or not at home; excuses didn’t work.
would ask you about school but she knows what the real answers are,” said Janessa.
However, when it came to disciplining her daughter, Mrs. Sayavedra said she aimed to treat Janessa differently at school since she was in a professional setting in the classroom. In fact, Mrs. Sayavedra confessed that for the first few days she had Janessa in class, she “ignored her” while trying to get to know the other students better.
“Those first few days are strange because you know nobody in the class and you know the other person (Janessa) very, very intensely. And trying to put them in the same place so that you develop well with everyone…I think that’s probably the strangest thing,” said Mrs. Sayavedra.
But after adjusting to her daughter’s presence in class, she found her a useful tool for a teacher.
“I can bounce things off her at whether there was something that was difficult to understand, whether it was the way I explained it or if it was the practice that we did,” said Mrs. Sayavedra.
Science teacher Doug Michie agreed that having his children, Reid and Preston, at North helped him to become a better teacher and even enjoy his job more. He meets many of his sons’ friends through sports and other extracurricular activities. But he also sees them frequently come over to his house to visit his sons.
“I’m not always sure exactly who’s going to show up at the door. It’s great, I love it…It’s kind of fun because then I’ll see them in the classroom or walking down the hallway…” said Mr. Michie.
Recently, Mr. Michie took his sons and several of their friends to play paintball. He said not only was the experience extremely fun, but also enlightening.
“They’re just like my sons…you would want your own kids to have good teachers. So you want to make sure that you teach well to these kids because they’re someone else’s kids…” said Mr. Michie.
Mr. Michie’s eldest son, Reid, also finds having family in school especially vital. If he struggles through science or math homework, his dad serves as a valuable source.
“If I need help in the class my dad teaches, I can easily get it. When I was in middle school, the only reason I did well in any of my classes, especially science, is because of my dad. Or so kids said,” commented Reid.
Despite this, Reid said people assume he is talented in the area of science like his father. Given his mother is also a teacher at Oakwood Elementary and both parents have a background in chemistry, wouldn’t it come easily to their son?
“I have been asked a lot if I am good at science and/or school because my parents are teachers…People seem to think of knowledge as a gene, that somehow I must know as much as my dad about physics and biology because he teaches it,” said Reid.
Sophomore Kelley Elmer ran into a similar problem; her father, Jeff Elmer, also teaches Physics. She said many people assume that she is also gifted at science because of her father. This causes her to become more self-conscious of her performance in her science classes…and in everything else.
“It always keeps me on my toes because I feel like how I do is a reflection of him, and I don’t want to give him a bad reputation,” said Kelley.
Going to school at her dad’s work place also makes her feel like being put under surveillance.
“If I do badly in a class, teachers could just talk to my dad in the hallway. It’s like a parent-teacher conference every day,” she said.
But depending on the teacher, because they work with her dad, they might cut her some slack in class, knowing she can be trusted. Talking with her dad, Kelley said, is also interesting to her because they both have something relevant to say about each other’s day.
“Dinner conversations are interesting because I can talk about people from school and he will actually know what I’m talking about. It’s also interesting to get his side of the story from things at school,” she said.
Kelley has her study hall in her father’s classroom during his free period. Other than that time, Mr. Elmer rarely sees Kelley during the school day. But when he does, their interaction is little different than what they share at home. However, he predicts that if she takes Physics with him in the future, he will have to adjust his behavior around her. But one thing he said he will never change is how teaches, whether she is in the classroom or not.
“I’ve had students ask when I’ve done something kind of funny or crazy, ‘Would you still do that if your daughter is there?’…And I think my response to it is I don’t care…If that means that there’s going to be an embarrassing moment because I pull out one of her baby shoes to demonstrate friction then that’s what’s going to happen. But I’m going to do the way I always do it and when she’s in my class, she’s just going to be another student,” said Mr. Elmer.
Wayne Wagner’s son Brady, a freshman, is currently in the same position as Kelley Elmer. He has to wait until he is old enough to take his father’s psychology class, something he said he definitely wants to do before he finishes high school. But in the meantime, Brady finds other ways to spend time with his dad, like meeting him in his classroom before school or eating off campus together. He even chose to attend North while the Wagner family lives on the west side of town where his older sister goes to school.
Mr. Wagner said it is very gratifying to be able to share so much time with his son during his work day.
“I think the best times of the day are when we drive into school in the morning. We talk about what his responsibilities are, sometimes he’ll ask me what I’m teaching on a given day…the disadvantages: he comes and asks me for money all the time during the day,” he said.
These two find no reason to act any differently than they do at home during the school day as well.
“We kind of mess around and make fun of each other in both places,” said Brady.
Junior Kelsey Tarbert is also comfortable stepping into her parent’s office, as if stepping into a second home. But when adjusting to high school as a freshman, Kelsey said that having her mother, North’s deaf/hearing impaired teacher, only a few doors down the hallway made the process much easier.
“Also, it helps me to realize a teacher’s perspective on things because I understand more readily that teachers are regular people with families, friends, and hobbies of their own,” said Kelsey.
Not to mention, with mother and daughter living in similar environments during the day, sparking a conversation is simple. The two will discuss many things about school, from the pep rally to TV 9.
“We just talk about things like a normal family does. The only difference is that my mom generally knows who or what I’m talking about from school,” she said.
Linda Tarbert said she finds her job rewarding not only because she can keep in touch with her daughter, but also because she can see her grow up in a school she admires.
“I appreciate how much she is further inspired by our staff. It is great that I can know her teachers and be sure that she is getting a quality education from people that care so much about their students,” said Mrs. Tarbert. 
Jeff Elmer stands outside his classroom with his daughter Kelley.
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