Message to the Faculty and Staff of the Hudson Community School District at the finish line of the 2025-2026 school year:
At the very beginning of this school year, we began a new journey together; and one that I promised would pass us by quickly. In that opening, I spoke of my own journey as a young teacher to the moment that led right up to the opening of the 2025-2026 school year. As is tradition at the beginning of each year, I offered you a theme, or hashtag, if you will, to be used to center our work together for the school year about to unfold.
This year, I encouraged a spirit of collaboration: recognizing that our greatest strengths lie in our ability to work together to share our ideas, and to support one another through our successes and each hurdle that we encountered. The examples of collaboration that I have witnessed this year are too numerous to capture in this, my final message to you for the 2025-2026 school year.
I asked you to foster a spirit of empathy-not just for our students but for one another. I have seen you wrap your arms around our students when they had no one else. I watched you stand in for your colleagues when they were experiencing difficulty. And I noticed when you stayed a little later in the afternoon to comfort a colleague who had a particularly rough day.
You were challenged to embrace innovation. As our world changes, so too should our teaching practices. Through your innovative use of AI in the classroom, to the hard work needed for the implementation our scientifically based reading instruction. You were there for all of it.
A little more than a week ago we sent off the Class of 2026 to take on the world. While they are at the starting gate of their journey, the advice I offered to them has echoes of what I shared with all of you at the start of this sojourn. To realize that every person you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. To understand that collaboration is the art of recognizing someone has a skill set that can complement the work you are doing and having the humility to ask for help. And to understand that we don’t merely need musicians who can play the notes on the page, but those who can compose a whole new symphony.
So then, we find ourselves here today at the end of another chapter. Our students are now gone, likely already enjoying the childhood freedoms that come with the promise of summer. We are now putting our books on the shelves for one final time, and within a few short hours our hallways will grow quiet.
However, it won’t be long before the page turns and we begin to write the opening sentences of the chapter that will become the 2026-2027 school year. Yet it will most certainly be different, because you see, some of those who read these words or gather for our year end celebration are doing so for their final time today. Indeed the close of this school year is an important milestone for some as they put those books back on the shelf one final time. Making the decision to retire is a difficult one. There are many mixed emotions, because on one hand you are not merely ending a chapter, but closing a book that has largely consumed entire working lives. As I told the Class of 2026, my hope is that you are able to look back fondly at your time in Hudson and are always able to call these hallways ‘home’.
If you'll permit me, I'd like to offer just a few observations about our retirees. First, Laura Angove. With a personality that lights up the room, she was the first to announce her retirement at the beginning of the year. I know she is looking forward to spending time being a grandmother, and she just shared with me that number two on the way. Most of our junior staff know Mrs. Angove as the TAG Coordinator, but she served as a long time art teacher in the district, serving grades kindergarten all the way to seniors in high school. No matter what assignment I needed her for, she gladly accepted my challenge. It was just a few years back when we made the decision to overhaul and revamp our TAG program, moving it from a part time to full time position. I tapped Laura for this job and she took it on graciously. It was a year of hard work getting our program off the ground, but I am grateful Laura agreed to take it on. She has built a strong foundation on which the program will undoubtedly grow.
Then there is Robert. A new grandparent in his own right, for Robert he just thought it was the right time. I remember distinctly when he told me that he was retiring. It definitively wasn't on my bingo card that he would be throwing in the towel at the end of the year. Fact of the matter was, the Friday before he came to see me we had a conversation about basketball and how he was looking forward to seeing his son coach that night. He dropped no hint of what he had in store. Classic Robert! Truth be told, he has been wise counsel to the entire district over the course of his career. I can say this with certainty: whenever Robert was in my office discussing an issue, we all listened carefully to what he had to say and heeded his advice. It was always correct.
And now we come to Mrs. Dvorak. The final person to announce their retirement, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I really was. You see, Chris had dropped some hints over the last couple of years and I knew it was coming-but the fact is it still took my breath away. I know Chris is looking forward to spending more time with her husband Barry who also recently retired from UNI. When most people think of Chris, my guess is what comes to mind is an orderly classroom that is very well managed. That is undoubtedly true. Yet, when I consider the depth of Mrs. Dvorak's contributions, I think of the passion she has for our veterans and those who have put themselves in harms way in service to our country. Her annual Pirate Term project of creating stationary for our overseas servicemembers is incredibly touching and become one of my favorites. I do hope someone picks up the mantle next year.
So then, congratulations to Laura Angove, Robert Driscol, and Chris Dvorak on your retirement. You have spent your working lives preparing for this moment and you deserve it. I am happy for you as you embark on your next great adventure. It has been a tremendous honor getting to know you and work with you. I wish you fair winds and following seas. You have served us well and we are better because of your contributions.
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