Among the thousands of Lakota teachers who have worked in the 18,000-student district in recent decades, none shares the Smith’s love-longevity work relationship, which has included a long marriage and two now grown children.
“Hopewell school was so large and we taught on the opposite sides of the building,” recalled Susan. “But in November of 1991 we happened to be seated next to each other at the district’s teacher professional development day and that is when we actually really meet.”
“Scott asked my teaching partner if I was dating anyone … and asked my partner if she could get my phone number. And she said ‘oh yes, she’s single and you should ask her out.’”
“And I was like, I don’t know if that is a good idea to date someone I work with and my friend said ‘he is such a good guy and should go out and see what happens,’” said Susan.
“And it worked out.”
That’s an understatement.
Susan’s bridal and baby showers were held in their old school and their youngest child’s first steps were performed in one of Hopewell’s long hallways.
The two later transferred to Liberty Twp.’s Independence Elementary when Hopewell was converted into an early childhood center.
Susan, who is 55, teaches fourth grade math and science and Scott, 60, teaches sixth grade science.
And fittingly, they plan to retire simultaneously at the end of this school year and cap off their romantic love story with a celebratory trip to the City of Love, Paris France.
The most part of having such a long love-work mix is “all the relationships we share,” said Susan.
“We have shared relationships with a lot of school families because Scott will have some children from the same family that I have as students.”
“It’s all a lot of shared relationships that not a lot of married couples get to have,” she said.
Scott said “Susan is the best teacher I’ve ever seen” and confessed some marital thievery.
“So I got to take a lot of her ideas and change them to what would be manageable for me,” he said.
Their advice for other couples who work under the same roof starts with a simple rule: No shop talk over the dinner table.
“You can’t talk about school all the time,” said Scott.
Susan said: “Make sure you have balance. You have to share other interests and have other things you are doing together.”
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