Local Man Married to Upwardly Mobile Librarian

Are you getting tired of reading about new jobs for Susan? Well, tough! . . . because here's more news: Susan yesterday signed a contract to work as the high school librarian for Dickinson Public Schools starting in the fall.

In February Susan attended a literacy conference in Bismarck at which she heard that the current librarian at Dickinson High School (where Susan herself was a student once upon a time) is retiring after this school year. When she got back home, Susan applied for the job. They conducted interviews this past Wednesday, and while we were gone for the girls' church choir "talent night" that night, the high school principal (who was my own high school social studies teacher, by the way!) phoned our home and left a message: could Susan come to the high school to meet with him the next day? When she arrived Thursday, he offered her the job, and she accepted. The contract arrived in the mail yesterday, and it's going back out--signed!--tomorrow.

Susan has really enjoyed being librarian at Trinity High School and has accomplished a lot in that position, including expanding the collection by purchasing new books, accepting donations, and holding book fairs to encourage parishioners to buy books for their kids, themselves, and the library all in one trip; and making the library more inviting with donated new furniture, a rug (donated by us), new layout for the tables and chairs, colorful posters and knickknacks and plants, a puzzle table for interested students to stop in and work on, and her own welcoming personality, of course! Teachers like her willingness to help them with teaching projects, and students like her helpfulness and friendliness when they come in to work in the computer lab, look for a book, or just relax with a magazine or newspaper.

We have liked that Trinity is four houses away from our home, meaning a commute of just a few minutes, depending on how quickly Susan walks! The administration has also been accommodating when Susan has wanted to leave during the school day to attend one of our kids' school programs or to bring medicine to an ill daughter. It has also been fun working where Susan's own mom and many of her relatives have gone to school (and where one of them goes currently). Susan will miss those aspects of the job, the students, her coworkers, and the pride that she can take in what she has accomplished in/for that library.

However, the public high school, too, is within walking distance (just a few blocks to the west); they are eager for Susan to address some of the same concerns and needs in their library that she did for the parochial high school; and they're offering her a much more reasonable salary and benefits--an actual living wage. I began my own teaching career at a Catholic high school, so we knew from the start the challenges of working hard for little pay from a parochial school--Susan wasn't expecting to get rich. However, neither was she willing to pass up this opportunity for advancement in her career. (Another positive: she is now better able to pay off the student loans that she took out to pay for the master's degree that she pursued in order to be able to get a job like this.)

So congratulations, Susan! I'm very proud of you and hopeful that you'll enjoy your new job--and eager for our family to reap the benefits of your new salary! (Now we just have to break the news to our kids . . .)