Morgan Maxwell K-8 School

Kelly is a 16-year employee of Tucson Unified, but has been at Morgan Maxwell K-8 since 2017. When the opportunity arose to work at the westside school, Kelly jumped at it. She had previously attended Morgan Maxwell for middle school, her mother lives across the street from the school, and her children attend surrounding TUSD schools. So, it was the perfect area for Kelly to work in. 

As far as her position, ELD wasn’t something Kelly was familiar with too much before teaching it herself. But she loves it. She is able to work with smaller groups of students and have very personalized care. 

“If they are having an off day, I can see it and we can quickly talk about it and relate,” Kelly said. “I just think we get a lot more done with the ELLs versus a big classroom. It’s just more personal.” 

When Aaron was in middle school, he read The Hobbit books, which inspired a love of reading that would last him the rest of his life. He loved being immersed in different worlds created by different authors.

When he started high school, Aaron would describe himself as a slacker, and his teachers all lectured him the same way. So, when he decided to become a teacher, he vowed to himself that he would be engaging and “didn’t want to replicate the torture that I had when I was their age,” Aaron said.  

Now, eight years into his career as an educator, Aaron believes that his students would describe him as different and creative. Someone who students never know what to expect from but has high expectations. 

Kathleen previously worked for Tucson Unified 2006-2012, but had to take a few years off. When she came back to the district in 2015, she joined the staff at Morgan Maxwell. Funny enough, that was where her mother worked as a nurse for many years.  

“It’s very cool,” Kathleen said.  

Some of the staff still remembers her. “They kind of all went separate ways and then came back together, but we got two or three staff members that knew my mom really well.” 

Working in the Health Office, Kathleen believes there is no better health team than her and school nurse Jordan Woodward in any other school in the district. The duo work so well together and are able to tackle the chaos that ensues each day. After all, their motto for their office is “Every day is a new day.”