CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Four mother-daughter pairs, pictured during a recent team spirit day, are working together at Franklin Elementary this year. Front row, from left to right, school nurse Brittany Appelgate, long-term substitute Erin Duffy, special education paraeducator McKenzie Dugan and second grade teacher Tayiah Siegert. Back row, left to right, second grade teacher Kim Hurley, fourth grade teacher Jodi Duffy, kindergarten teacher Jennifer Dugan and special education teacher Theresa Siegert.

It’s often said that coworkers can become a family of sorts as they bond and get to know each other over the years, but for eight employees at Franklin Elementary School, they’ve already got members of their actual families at a beck and call within the building.

“The idea that resonates the most with me is that these Bobcat families are committed to educating students in our community and making a difference for our kids and their families. You hear organizations say ‘We are family,’ and in our case, we truly are,” Franklin Principal Tim Holmgren said.

A whopping four mother/daughter pairs — Jodi and Erin Duffy, Jennifer and McKenzie Dugan, Theresa and Tayiah Siegert, and Kim Hurley and Brittany Appelgate — are on the staff together at Franklin this year, and they all agree that it’s a special feeling to be united as they are.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Someday I’ll look back on this year, and I hope (Tayiah) does as well, and realize how lucky we were to be able to work together and spend the time together that we have,” Theresa Siegert said. “Drive to work together. Go to the gym together. Have supper together. Really getting to know her as an adult and the teacher’s side of her is just, I’m lucky.”

Appelgate’s daughter Nora, who is Hurley’s granddaughter, is also a student at Franklin, and both Duffys are Franklin and MHS alums themselves. Appelgate also graduated from MHS, and Hurley was her fourth grade teacher at Anson.

“It’s pretty cool. Erin and I both went to school here. I went, obviously, a way long time ago,” Jodi Duffy, a fourth grade teacher, said. “So it’s fun that we’re both in our home schools. Erin’s here as a long-term sub and was here all of last year as a long-term sub, so it’s really fun to see her every day. She moved out of the house this summer, so it’s really nice that I get to see her every day. We eat lunch together.”

Theresa Siegert, a special education instructor, said Tayiah, who is in her first year teaching second grade, wanted to be a teacher for as long as she can remember and loved to play school with her younger siblings as a child. The two are living together, so they get to spend even more quality time with each other.

“Having her here and living at home for this school year is just a blessing,” Theresa Siegert said. “When I walk into her classroom and see her teaching and see the amazing job she’s doing for our students here at Franklin in second grade, it makes me very proud.”

The Dugans are originally from Nebraska, but Jennifer, a kindergarten teacher, said her seven kids have always tagged along to whatever job she has held and, as a result, have gained a love of education themselves. In fact, McKenzie isn’t the only one employed with the Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) as another daughter is a paraeducator at Anson.

Hurley, who was featured in a T-R profile by Sara Jordan-Heintz last month, is returning to the MCSD after several years with Central Rivers AEA and teaching second grade. Appelgate, the Franklin school nurse, added that the experience is especially meaningful for them with her own daughter being a student.

“Nora is across the hall in first grade, so I get a hug every morning and, every once in a while, lots of high fives,” Hurley said of her granddaughter.

When the younger generation of Franklin staffers was asked if they feel pressure to work extra hard in hopes of impressing their mothers, laughter broke out across the room.

“It’s kind of funny you say that because (my mom’s) old title was in the library, so I kind of tell people I took her job,” Erin Duffy said. “But when I was here last year, anything that I didn’t know, if I didn’t know about it, I would go and ask her. That was just the easiest way for me to figure out how to do it, and, I mean, I still do now. She’s right down the hallway.”

She joked that she’ll sometimes yell “Mom! Help,” and students have to adjust from working with Mrs. Duffy to Miss Duffy.

“It’s hard following in her footsteps, but I do the best that I can with what I have,” Erin Duffy said.

Tayiah Siegert echoed the sentiment that she doesn’t find it intimidating — quite the opposite, actually, as she always has a resource available to her when she needs help even if it’s after hours. She and Theresa often deal with the same name confusion between Mrs. Siegert and Miss Siegert.

“I think it’s kind of fun too because the kids will pick up on that connection. I know my mom likes to show pictures of all of us, so a lot of times the kids have heard of me and now they get to see me. So it’s just fun to see that come to life,” Tayiah Siegert said.

McKenzie Dugan, a special education paraeducator, joked that she can always get the “lowdown” quicker than most of the other paras through her mom, and they even get to work in the same classroom together — which has prompted her to change her name from Miss Dugan to Miss McKenzie. Erin and Jodi Duffy try to meet up for lunch on the lawn and get pictures together when they can, and Erin said she’s thankful she can have her “daily vent” either first thing in the morning or before she leaves for the day.

“I know that she has her own stuff that she’s dealing with, but she’s always willing to listen and help when it is needed,” Erin Duffy said. “So it just helps a lot knowing that somebody’s in your corner. I mean, everybody’s in your corner at Franklin, but somebody that close to you is in your corner.”

It’s all love between the eight staff members, and Hurley said she even spends time at work thinking about how she can make Appelgate’s day better.

“I’ve been super busy because I’m coaching too right now, but I’m gonna do more things to make her day better,” Hurley said.