The average teacher spends about four or five years teaching at one school. Some may stay longer or only a year, but one thing is certain; seeing a teacher move to a new school is never easy for students or other staff.
However, as the school year comes to an end, teachers will also come and go. Some may retire after years of working, or look for a new opportunity in a new city. One of these teachers is Kristen Montgomery, the middle and high school Spanish teacher here at Potosi. She plans to pursue something new in her teaching career.
Montgomery started teaching at Potosi School District at the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year. She grew up and graduated from Lancaster and was used to the small-town feel. She was actually hired three days before the start of the school year; the new hire had a change in plans, and Montgomery stepped up for the community. Even though she had just started at the new school, the outbreak of Covid-19 in the spring of that year did not slow her love for teaching others.
In her four years here Montgomery has taught Spanish to middle and high school students. She has done exploratory classes with middle schoolers, a way for them to look at and get a head start in Spanish classes they may be taking in their high school career. She has also offered up to Spanish 4 each year and has had no limits on which students could join her classes.
But, it seems her adventure in Potosi is coming to an end. She plans to move to the Madison area and look for a new teaching position there. Montgomery hopes that working at a large school gives her more opportunities to collaborate and work with other foreign language teachers. The school has already had some interviews to fill her position. However, there have been no notes about filling her track and field coaching position yet.
She says she will miss her students the most, especially hearing about their lives and the stories they told about their high school experiences. “I’ll miss hearing the kids talking about their everyday stuff; successes, boy problems, everything.” She also will miss her co-workers. She said they were always so supportive and helpful, and she had a great time at her “lunch table” with them.