Bay County teacher starting 46th year says she still gets butterflies

HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, MI -- Tiny chairs surround tiny tables in Kristin Brashaw's classroom at Hampton Elementary School, waiting for a rush of kindergartners to stomp through on the first day of school.

Brashaw said she's still working hard to get the room ready, but as she sits in a worn rocking chair with a couple of picture books, it looks like children could burst in any minute. A wide swath of colorful foam padding covers the floor in front of the whiteboard and a giant "welcome" banner hangs at the front of the room.

Tuesday, Sept. 8, marks Brashaw's 46th first day of school (45th as a Bay City Public Schools teacher), and after nearly a half-century, she says she still gets nervous in the days leading up to the first bell.

"I can't sleep the night before," she said. "Then the first day comes, and the door opens, and I'm so excited seeing the children -- and all my fears go away. They become my babies."

Brashaw, who turns 66 on Sept. 10, has had a longer career with Bay City Public Schools than any other teacher in the district.

Getting there, Brashaw said, has been a journey.

Related: Meet some of Bay County's longest-serving teachers

She grew up wanting to be a nurse or a doctor, only to change career paths in college when she realized she loved working with children. Over the course of 45 years -- plus one year of teaching in Saginaw -- she's stayed in the classroom long enough to teach her own grandchildren.

But there's no place else she'd rather be. Brashaw said she almost retired five years ago, turning in her retirement papers only to rescind them at the last minute, racing to beat the clock and tell district officials she still was coming to school.

"It was like 4 p.m. you had to turn them in, and I got there at like 3:55 p.m.," she said. "I just wasn't ready."

Almost a nurse

Brashaw was born in Detroit and raised in Bay City, the youngest of five children -- younger, even, than her twin brother, who was born five minutes earlier.

She attended Farragut School as a child, where she struggled with reading for years, working hard to overcome dyslexia and speech issues, she said. The problem came to a head in the summer after third grade, when remedial tutoring was all that saved her from being held back while her twin brother moved on to the fourth grade.

Now, she recognizes those summer weeks as powerful teaching. She models herself off some of the things she learned from her tutor -- how to use games to make learning fun, and how to make struggling children feel respected.

"I always tell children every year that I couldn't read until I got to the fourth grade, and I love reading," she said. "My goal for them is to love to read, love to learn and be kind to each other."

Brashaw's interest in medicine runs in the family, and she said that if she hadn't become a teacher, she'd be a pediatrician, such is her love for children. Her grandmother was a nurse, as was a sister, and a son of hers eventually chose the profession, too.

But after Brashaw graduated from Bay City Central High School in 1967, she went to the University of Michigan, where she took a reading elective that put her in close contact with kids. She knew then she wanted to be a teacher, and she eventually transferred to Michigan State University to finish her degree. The school had a special program, she explained, where students could hold a teaching job during their final year in school.

Even as an educator, though, Brashaw still is carrying on another family tradition. Her father, Carl Bernhart, was a music teacher for Bay City Public Schools. He taught students at all grade levels throughout his career, leading choirs, orchestras and bands and even dabbling in English courses.

Some of her strongest memories are of watching students perform the plays her father wrote and scored. To hear her tell it, Carl Bernhart was something of a renaissance man, even designing the play's sets.

"Every day I was teaching, I would go over to his house," she said, recalling with a laugh that they talked shop every day. "It was probably horrible for my mother."

Bernhart was beloved by students, Brashaw said. One of her now-retired colleagues used to be a student of his, and shared a letter she never sent to him. Brashaw said she has a copy at home, outlining his kindness, his support and his enthusiasm for his students.

Brashaw remembers, too, that one of her most profound moments as a teacher came when she was at the hospital visiting her father as he battled cancer.

"I was in the waiting room while he had a procedure," she said. "A person came up to me and said, 'You had my daughter, Lisa, and she wants to give it away and give (college) up. Would you talk to her?' "

Brashaw did just that, and Lisa stayed in college and is on track to graduate.

"I touch lives"

Because she loves it so much, Brashaw hesitates to call her job difficult. But a standard workday lasts about 10 hours, and she regularly takes work home after she leaves school, she said. The first day of classes, she said, is usually a 14-hour affair.

In recent years, expectations have gotten even higher for students, she said.

"I feel like I'm teaching first grade from January on," Brashaw said. "And I feel like the first-grade teachers feel like they're teaching second grade from January on."

It's the everyday things that keep her going, she said. During her career, she has taught preschool, early fives and third grade, but has been teaching kindergarten in recent years. Her job, she said, is to get kids reading and writing and introduce them to basic science and math.

"They come in not knowing the alphabet or shapes, and they leave reading, and they're confident," she said. "They're amazing. I like to see them learn in their different ways. It's really fun."

Kim Offenbecker, principal of Hampton Elementary, said she first met Brashaw when she was a physical education teacher visiting buildings throughout the district. Brashaw always was the first to welcome her to the school.

"She's highest on the seniority list, but she has more energy than the rest of us put together," Offenbecker said. "The passion she has for kids is the same as when I came here seven years ago."

There's more to Brashaw than teaching. She raised six children and sings in the choir at St. Boniface church.

But teaching remains her passion, and Brashaw says she'd like to make it to 50 years in the classroom. She'd like to teach more of her grandchildren and says there's no concrete end in sight for her career.

She's glad she's had a chance to make a difference for so many kids.

"Now I look back, and I say, 'This is what I was meant to be,' " she said. "I'm trying to teach children to love learning and be kind, and I touch lives.

"And they've touched mine."

-- Sam Easter is a general assignment reporter for The Bay City Times. Contact him with tips, comments and story ideas at seaster@mlive.com or 517-281-7884. You can follow him on Twitter.