The pride the two mothers feel for their children shows in their body language, their words, and the enormous smiles they have on their faces, as they each talk about their child, who not only followed in their footsteps to become a teacher but is currently teaching at the same school.
Elizabeth Wilkes, a sixth-grade teacher at Elm Street Elementary, and Caroline Threadgill, a paraprofessional at West Central Elementary, share similarities and differences. One thread ties them together though, and that’s how proud they are of their children. They are two of several moms employed by Rome City Schools with children who also teach in the school system.
Madelyn Wilkes is a second-grade teacher at Elm Street Elementary. Thomas Threadgill is a special education teacher at West Central Elementary.
While talking with the moms and their kids, it’s obvious how much they enjoy this opportunity.
“I can’t tell you how much I love that she is teaching here,” Elizabeth says. “She gets here earlier than I do. On one of the first couple of days, I had a little note on my computer that said, ‘Thank you Mom. I appreciate that you’re my mom and my co-worker.’ It was sweet. I try to stop by every morning and say hello, and I try to end my day here too.”
Caroline fights hard to keep from tearing up when asked what it means to her to be able to teach at the same school as her son.
“Just seeing him grow up and finally realize what he was really meant to do is special,” she says. “And then being able to be here when he started school makes it so meaningful for me. I am just so very proud of him.”
For Elizabeth, the almost tearful moment comes when she shares how proud she is to hear comments other teachers make about Maddie.
“One very special thing for me is hearing compliments about her. All parents want to hear good things about their kids. It always feels good to hear a compliment. Sometimes I’ll see another teacher and they will tell me how sweet she is,” she says. “For me, I constantly get to hear praise about my daughter.”
Maddie and Thomas each took different paths to the classroom, and they both credited their mothers with helping along the way.
Maddie discovered early on that she wanted to be a teacher.
“My mom had me come in for Read Across America Day. I got to read to her class,” she says. “I visited her class several times. I just loved the environment. I knew I wanted to be a teacher at a young age. I also realized I wanted to be at Elm Street or a school just like it.”
An old wooden rocking chair sits in a corner of Maddie’s classroom. If you look at it just right, you can catch the light gleaming off the lacquer applied to it. The chair isn’t just a family heirloom - it symbolizes so much more.
“My mom was a teacher and Madelyn’s great-grandma was a teacher. That rocking chair is the gift Lyons, Georgia gave her great grandma for teaching for 50 years,” Elizabeth says. “When she passed, we put the chair away and saved it for the day Maddie would be a teacher.”
The teaching lineage is strong in the Wilkes family, and Maddie loves mentioning it.
“For me being a fourth-generation teacher empowers me. This isn’t something I just pulled out of a hat and decided I wanted to do. This is in my blood,” she says. “I know I’ve got this, and I’m doing well at it. I may not be at my best yet, but I will get there. My great-grandmother taught for 50 years because she loved it. If she can do it, I can do it.”
Thomas’ journey to teaching took a more twisty route with an interesting stop or two along the way.
“I went to school at Kennesaw State. My major was media and communications,” he says. “I always thought I would work at a magazine or in radio.”
Growing up, Thomas had other people tell him he should be a teacher.
“I worked at the Lovejoy Summer Camp. One of the monitors there was a teacher at Anna K. Davie. She kept telling me that I was going to be a teacher,” he says.
And of course, his mom also thought teaching would be a great fit for him.
“He’s always been good with kids and with younger kids,” Caroline says. “Before he finished high school, I kept telling him he needed to be a teacher.”
Despite the advice from a couple of teachers, Thomas got his degree and worked for a rental car company out of school. He then ventured into the classroom working as a paraprofessional at Main Elementary. But then COVID hit.
“We got out of school that March. My friend had a job at a bank in Texas, and I went out and tried that for a little while. It was during the pandemic so it was all virtual. That’s when I realized I wanted to work in education,” he says.
His mom didn’t love him being in Texas. She worried about his mental health, realizing that he wasn’t in a job that he cared for much.
“When he moved to Texas, I was worried about him. I kept telling him to come home,” she says.
That’s when some friends told her that West Central Elementary was looking to hire a paraprofessional. Once she heard that, everything started coming together.
“My friends told me that West Central was looking for a para pro, so I told him,” she says. “I was just thankful that he could come home and get the job.”
“Luckily, West Central reached out, and I started working as a para pro. They helped me get my certification, so now I’m back where it all started,” he says.
Threadgill went to school at West Central from pre-K through sixth grade before later graduating from Rome High School.
And now he teaches and walks the same halls he roamed as a kid growing up.
“I walk the halls here, and I see the kids having struggles. I can really relate to that because I was here too,” he says. “My sixth-grade teacher still works here. So I have a few people here. It’s just really special to be here every day.”
Hearing Thomas say this brings a big smile to his mom’s face, and she can’t help but remind him that she offered him sage advice several years ago.
“I get to say I told you so,” she says with a chuckle.
Much like their children, the moms have had a journey in their teaching careers.
Elizabeth, like Thomas, is a product of Rome City Schools having graduated from East Rome High School before East and West merged to form Rome High. She became a teacher after college.
“I’ve been teaching for 16 years. I took 11 years off in the middle to raise my little ones,” she says. “I came back about nine years ago.”
Wilkes returned to teaching and eventually made it back to Elm Street Elementary first as a paraprofessional and then as a teacher.
Caroline grew up in Wilcox County, Alabama, and attended the University of Alabama before moving to Rome with her husband.
“I have four sons that are all two years apart. By the time I had two sons, daycare was too expensive. When Thomas started Pre-K, I was the class mom and eventually the PTO president,” she says. “When my youngest son started school I started subbing, and I only subbed at West Central because my kids were all here.”
From class mom to paraprofessional, Caroline enjoyed working at West Central.
“I started at West Central as a substitute teacher 18 years ago. I was here for nine years. I worked for six years for the special education department as a paraprofessional mentor and this is my first year back at West Central.”
A funny side note is that students at both schools sometimes get taken aback when they realize the connections between the teachers.
“Sometimes I’ll be walking with the kids in the hallway and pass my mom,” Maddie says. “The kids will point to her and whisper, ‘That’s your mom.’ Sometimes some of my mom’s students will pass me in the hallway and say, ‘Hey other Mrs. Wilkes.’”
"It has been fun. Some of the kids are still trying to figure it out. One kid asked me why Thomas is taller than me if I’m his mom,” Caroline says. “So then I had to bring in a picture of him and show that he was a baby but now he’s grown.”
And both sets of moms and kids had a special moment or two when the reality of them teaching together really sank in.
“On the first day of actual school with students, I felt like I had the presence of my mom with me. I saw a lot of people I graduated with be really nervous on social media,” Maddie says. “I walked in on that first day of school with no nerves. I felt so supported. There was nothing for me to be nervous about.”
Elizabeth has another memory also involving the first day.
“On the first day of school, we were all gathered together on the bus going to hear Dr. Holland speak,” she says. “We were all wearing matching shirts. Looking over and seeing my daughter there with me - that was a special day. It was fun.”
For the Threadgills, a couple of different moments stick out.
One day mom and son, unbeknownst to each other, wore the same color pants and shirts to school, causing several students and even some teachers to point it out and laugh.
When she pauses to think though, Caroline brings out one specific moment that sticks in her head.
“I think having the signing day picture this year with the two of us together was special,” she says.
Rome City Schools celebrated contract signing day on Friday, March 29, and Thomas and his mom were in their signing day picture together both wearing big smiles on their faces.
Maybe that’s the biggest takeaway from the conversations. The smiles that all four share. The two moms and their two kids, loving their jobs and loving getting a chance to work at the same school. So much so that for both moms it’s almost as if they get a little slice of Mother’s Day every day.