| Jane Long Elementary School will soon get a Rude departure that's been four decades in the making.
Second-grade teacher Kathleen Rude will retire at the end of the school year, bringing a close to 40 years of teaching, all at the Richmond school. Thirty-five of those years were spent teaching second grade.
“I have nothing but good things to say about this school and about this district,” she said. “This district has been great to me.”
Rude was recruited to come here straight out of Sam Houston State University.
A district official, Glen Morris, invited her down for an interview. When she came to the district, she learned of two teacher openings - first grade at Smith Elementary School and second grade at Jane Long.
Charles Boucher was the principal at Jane Long. (His daughter, Kay Dawes, followed him to the top post at Jane Long and eventually became principal at Lamar Consolidated High School.)
Rude liked how Jane Long's classrooms had walls, unlike schools that were then employing the new “open classroom” concept.
“The school I had done my student teaching at had walls,” she said, referring to a first-grade class she taught at a school in Bryan.
She took the Jane Long job, found an apartment - along with a roommate, whom she lived with for the first year - and eventually found a husband, Larry, who taught physical education at the school. A longtime LCISD educator, Larry Rude died several years ago.
In her first year, Rude paid $32.50 a month for her half of the rent, coming out of her $6,000 a year salary.
“So my take-home (pay) was about $400, somewhere in that range,” she said. “And at that time, they had just gotten a big pay raise here. So that was their big selling point.”
Originally from Brenham, Rude cherished her first year in the classroom.
“Some of the teachers I taught with I'm still best friends with,” she said.
“The teachers that I taught with, there were two of us that taught together for over 20 years,” Rude said. “And they've all since retired and one has died. It was just a close-knit (atmosphere). And it's always been that way here. I have been very fortunate to work with teachers that we've always gotten along, and that's a big plus.”
Teaching has changed over the years, and one difference is that the classes are smaller now. In the old days, she could count 30-something students in her classroom, and there was no limit to how many she could have. Her class now has 18 students.
The school also has uniform dress, implemented several years ago. She embraces the dress code because students now don't spend time comparing their wardrobes.
Besides changes in class size and dress code, Rude's responsibilities have shifted, as well.
“When I first started, we taught everything - we taught the music, we taught the PE, we taught art, we taught it all,” she said. “You didn't get a break during the day. You ate with your kids at lunchtime. You took them out for PE, recess. You just never got a break from them. You were with them all day long.
“Whereas now, we have a 45-minute break for planning time in the morning when they go to PE, music or art. So we have specialized teachers now who take of care that.”
Rude said she never wanted to teach at another school. She said she targeted 40 years as a goal for her retirement.
“I've said I'd like to teach 40 years,” she said. “Really, the deciding factor was my parents. I had a brother, but he passed away. So now I'm the only child. I have a father who's going to be 92 in June and a mother who's 85 and they still live at home, but they need me to be there more.”
Her folks live in Brenham. She said she would eventually like to move back to her hometown, but “not right away.”
In her retirement, she would like to volunteer as a Pink Lady at a hospital or volunteer for the library. She said she would also like to spend time with her godchildren.
“I love teaching,” she said. “I never regretted going into it, even though the pay wasn't all that great. I just loved it - you have to love it to stick with it.”
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