Ms. Kress, Back from Maternity Leave

By Paul Hurford

Nancy Kress is returning from her most recent maternity leave of about two years. She was and still is a math teacher, and she is teaching Algebra 2 this year for the first semester, but she is going back on maternity leave shortly after the first semester is over: another baby is on the way.

I asked Mrs. Kress about whether she believed that HHS offered a fair maternity leave. Her response was, “Yes, Hanover High School does seem to offer a very fair ma-ternity leave, and it is better for the school in that you can bring in a teacher who is able to focus on teaching and not having to worry much about their newborn child.” She added, “I believe that since my maternity leave, I have become a better teacher in the sense that I have a whole new mindset, and lots of new ideas.”

When I asked her about if being a parent has changed anything about the way that she teaches, she replied, “It has, in terms of thinking about all of the new kids in my classes and how their parents had to do what I am doing now. Also it changed my point of view on growing up.”

I also asked her if she thought that HHS has changed a whole lot while she was gone. She said, “It hasn’t really changed. The only real changes are the new kids that you get to teach each semester, and the wide variety of kids in the classes that I teach throughout the day.”

Mrs. Kress is “very excited to be back.” She said, “When I was on maternity leave, I was thinking about teaching and that I couldn’t wait to get back to it.”

One of the final comments that she made was that she “wants to encourage people to get to know each other, even if you are very different from each other. It is important to learn who they are, even though you might disagree on some things. It is not necessary to change their minds so that you can be friends with them. Also, knowing your friends and neighbors might lead to less harsh disagree- ments and more good times.”

Welcome back, Mrs. Kress!