Newton High School is a nest for many types of relationships, professional, formal and even romantic. Among those relationships, one that stands out the most is the loving relationship among teachers.
Currently, there are four teacher couples at NHS, math teacher Erica Rickard and Engineering teacher Bryan Rickard; Science teacher Duane Knoll and English teacher Mandy Knoll; Music teachers Amy Ives and Tyler Ives; And IT teacher Chase Camarena and French teacher Madeleine Riley.
“The stars aligned perfectly, for me to meet her,” Camarena said.
Q: How did you meet and how long have you been together?
A: “My significant other is Chase Camarena. We have been dating for nearly two and a half years,” Riley said. “It is fun because there are a lot of cool things we can do, like concessions, and he is down the hallway. We met in the World Language hallway, and it was on the first workday, and Senora Loeffler introduced us.”
A: “We have been married for 20 years. We both got married before we started teaching when I was still finishing school,” Amy Ives said. “Our first jobs [were] when we were looking for jobs, we found a school with a choir and band teacher opening at the same school.”
A: “We have been married for 11 years,” Duane Knoll said. “We were both educators when we got married to each other.”
Q: What are the advantages of working with your significant other?
A: “We are able to drive together, which saves gas, and it is a great way to spend some more time together,” Camarena said. “It is also nice to talk to someone about work and really understand since they go through the same thing.”
A: “When you are with someone who is a teacher, they understand teaching, the things that go on, how much is involved, you know the schedule and what is happening,” Duane Knoll said.
A: “It works well with our calendar schedule because all our days off and breaks are together,” Tyler Ives said. “We share a schedule, and we can both help each other out since we are both in music.”
Q: What are the negatives of being a teacher couple?
A: “I guess the only negative with being with another teacher is during summer when we see each other a lot so I make him go play a lot of golf because we need some time apart,” Amy Ives said.
A: “Teachers do not make a lot of money, and together we do not make a lot of money. You do not get into teaching because you make a lot of money,” Mandy Knoll said.
A: “The negative is the same thing as the positive: I get to spend a lot of time with her but because of that, we have to work extra hard to find time for ourselves. That goes for the both of us,” Camarena said. “As much as we love being around each other, we also realize that we need that time and we make an effort to have time for ourselves to counterbalance our work.”
Q: Do you learn anything from your significant other?
A: “I have taught ‘Mr. C’ some French and he helps me with anything technology-related,” Riley said. “The most useful thing he has taught me is how to print to PDF [because] I did not know how to do that until he taught me how to. I use this all the time.”
A: “I can not use a ruler, so whenever I need something measured, I get him to measure because I can not use a ruler. If I need math done, he does all the math,” Mandy Knoll said.
A: “We would spend a lot of time together in school and in classroom management, and we were buddy teachers sometimes. Whenever I had a problem with a student I could send them to his room,” Amy Ives said.
