Gibson Southern teachers Kristin and Kyle Brasher welcomed the newest addition to their family, Maylee Brasher, on September 4. Maylee is the youngest of her siblings Kinley, Kameron and Lucas Brasher. She is the second girl for the family.
“Surprisingly, all the other ones came earlier, but she was set to come September 4, and that’s when I went to the hospital,” Kristin Brasher said.
Though the delivery process was smooth, the Brashers still had to worry about taking care of things back at school while taking their paternity and maternity leaves. By law, women are allowed to take off up to 12 weeks, but they also have to worry about using up sick days, keeping some days in reserve they may need for time off later in the year. Paternity leave is subject to the days off a teacher has accrued.
“We looked at my numbers, and we thought 10 [days] would be enough to use and spend that time helping and getting in some of that early bonding time,” Kyle Brasher said.
In addition to worrying about taking time off, the Brashers also had to line up what their classes were going to do while they were gone. Luckily for them, many teachers stepped up and took over classes. For Kristin Brasher, multiple teachers in the math department who taught the same classes offered to cover for her. Valerie Zimmer covered an Algebra II class.
“We had a meeting at the end of last school year and were asked if anyone knew of anyone that would want to cover Mrs. Brasher’s maternity leave because there had been no interest,” Zimmer said. “I came up with the idea of giving up our plan or combining two of the same classes into one big class.”
With not worrying about having qualified teachers in the classroom, the Brashers had some time to spend with their newborn. But, having a newborn is time-consuming with multiple feedings and changings, and they were still planning and grading assignments.
“It’s more time-consuming at home, making sure I have all my planning and grading done and then basically feeding her around the clock,” Kristin Brasher said.
While teachers have their biological kids they take care of, many view their students as an extension of their kids and feel a sense of duty to help them succeed. So, leaving them for an extended period of time makes them want to make sure they still have everything that they need to be set up for success without them.
“I feel like as teachers, we not only have our kids but our students as our extended kids,” Kyle Brasher said. “As teachers, we have that little bit of concern when we leave if they are getting everything that they need to be successful.”
