So what does a teacher do during spring break?
Donna Kline is cleaning out her garage, spending time with her
grandson and going back into school to get ready for her students
to return.
So what does a teacher do during spring break?
Donna Kline is cleaning out her garage, spending time with her grandson and going back into school to get ready for her students to return.
”Spring is about renewal. I get the urge to get things all ready to go again,” she said.
Donna is a kindergarten teacher at Eliot School who teaches children who are learning English. Eliot is getting a new home, and, for now, Donna Kline is making their temporary home at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School as comfortable as possible for her young students. The new Eliot School is due to open for the 2005-06 year.
”My great-great-grandfather came to Gilroy and had a lot of land,” the Gilory native said. ”He was involved in mixed farming; he had prune trees, crops and dairy.”
Her aunt still lives on the family property. Her father was a well driller who was into water witching, she said. She grew up with six siblings, and all of them have moved away. But Kline likes the area and chose to stay.
”This is my home,” she said. “It’s gotten bigger, but it still feels like a small town,” she said.
After graduating with an degree in education from San Jose State University, Kline worked as a teacher’s aide and then opened her own day-care center.
”It was called Donna’s Daycare. Boy, that takes me back,” she said. ”I called the children the eager beavers. I believed children should be a part of their community, so we participated in parades and events. We are very lucky to have such wonderful parks and recreations programs in Gilroy.”
Kline has always taught in Gilroy and at a variety of grade levels, but she is very happy teaching kindergarten.
”They are like little sponges,” she said. ”They arrive at the beginning of the year terrified because their teacher doesn’t speak their language, but with patience and practice, they are talking your ears off in no time. We were doing a writing test a week ago, and I was reflecting how they could barely hold a pencil a few months ago; now they are writing complete sentences!”
When Kline isn’t taking more workshops or classes, she loves being at home with her three daughters and a grandson, who lives with her and her husband, Joe Kline.
Donna Kline met her husband at a party. He was serving in the Vietnam War and was coming home at the same time his brother Steve, who was Donna Kline’s friend, was leaving for Vietnam.
”So it was a welcome home and good-bye party,” she said. ”Joe’s Dad saw a photograph of me from that party and he liked my smile, so he encouraged Joe to ask me out. He eventually did, that was in my senior year, and we’ve been married for 32 years.”
Her husband is the public information officer for Gilroy and an artist.
”He has around 13 prints out – one is a painting of the City Hall – and he’s done a Garlic Festival poster,” she said of her husband. “But his passion is painting helicopter scenes from the Vietnam War. ”(Former) President Bush has one of Joe’s paintings.”
Donna Kline has a full life surrounded by friends, family and appreciative students.
”I have a close family, and I love my career. My students love me to death, and I can see a little bit of myself in every child I teach,” she said.
