This school year started off amazingly well. I was able to get paperwork done far more easily than last year, and I ran into far fewer roadblocks. I was finally mastering what I needed to do, and I was getting it done much faster. I even remember telling anyone who would listen how much better year two as Principal Tacey was compared to year one. Everything was running according to plan.
That is, until my 7th and 8th grade teacher resigned for personal reasons just before Halloween. With no other options, Principal Tacey became Mr. Tacey, and I found myself in charge of the most challenging classroom in our school.
For the past two months, I have sacrificed every ounce of energy I have to support my students, on top of still doing all of my principal work. It has been exhausting one moment and invigorating the next. Depressing, yet joy-giving. Confusing, but somehow full of profound understanding.
This experience has been much needed for the students so they could have a clean slate and a fresh start. It has also been much needed for me. I needed to see if the ideas I had been asking teachers to carry out actually worked. It turns out they do. Still, I knew this arrangement could not last.
I was born to be a principal. A problem solver. A troubleshooter. An unorthodox principal who puts teachers first. The longer I spent teaching, the further I felt from my calling. I was determined to find the light at the end of the tunnel.
Then the day arrived.
It was December 15th, 2025. At the previous month’s board of education meeting, I had learned there would be a mid-year graduation at the college our teachers attend. There was a chance, albeit a very small one, that we might receive a teacher mid-year.
I later learned there were 20 graduates, only 7 of whom were elementary education majors. Of those seven, they also had to be willing to accept a mid-year position to even be eligible to receive a call. December 15th was both graduation day and assignment day. It was the day we would find out our fate.
I called the college that morning to ask when we might hear something. They told me the committee had not met yet, but they would let us know as soon as they could. Time ticked by, hour by hour.
At 12:21 PM, I received the bad news. The text read, “Keith, we did not receive an assignment of a mid-year graduate.” As I processed this disheartening message and considered how to respond, I received a second text at 12:24 PM. It read, “Hold on. Just got an email that may change things.”
After three hours of radio silence, I texted back, “Any updates?”
Twenty-two minutes later, the final reply came through: “Brothers, things have changed. We have been assigned a teacher. Wait for the Lord! He is good.”
So who is coming to Columbus?
Meet Ms. Abby Winkel.
She is a recent Martin Luther College graduate with a double major in Elementary Education and Communication Arts and Literature Education (Secondary Education). She has student teaching experience in both elementary and high school settings.
Ms. Winkel has agreed to a permanent teaching assignment mid-year, meaning she will be with us for at least the next three years. She will arrive in Columbus after the new year and enter the building on January 5th, initially serving as the 7th and 8th grade teacher aide before taking over the classroom at the start of the third quarter on February 1st, 2026.
At St. Paul’s, we praise the Lord for this blessing, especially because it came when we least expected it.
