The end of a long career with the Polk School District wraps up on Thursday, April 1 with the retirement of Rockmart High School Principal Robyn Teems.
That’s no joke either: her 31 years in education have been spent entirely with the district in various roles since she started in 1990. Educators and administrators gathered to celebrate her career last week with a special luncheon at Rockmart High School ahead of her final days this week on the campus leading the Yellow Jacket family.
Teems, who began as a paraprofessional in the district, worked her way up in teaching and administration before landing in her final role as the principal of Rockmart High School. A journey she has enjoyed.
“It’s been a great 31 years!” she said. “I started with the Polk School District in 1990 right after I married Greg Teems (Assistant Superintendent, and interim Superintendent at one point.)”
She said that her huband’s love for teaching inspired her to get into the classroom after she graduated from Berry College with a degree in Business Administration and Economics in 1989. Once finding her passion for education, she went on to get her Masters in Teach Education from then West Georgia College (now the University of West Georgia) and a Specialist in Education Leadership degree from Lincoln Memorial University in 2006.
All while still teaching.
“I always thought I would be a high school Economics teacher, but Science was the only opening,” she said. “The rest is history.”
That included a year at Euharlee Elementary in Kindergarten as a paraprofessional, then 16 years at Rockmart High School, five years at Cedartown High School as an assistant principal, a year at Van Wert as principal and then four years as principal at Rockmart Middle before returning back to Rockmart High to finish out her career leading the campus. She said she worked at every level of education on both sides of the county, and loved “every minute of it!”
Now that her long career is coming to a close, Teems said she will be looking forward to spending time on things she wants to do.
“I am not sure what the future holds but I have definitely always loved and embraced change. I bought a cookbook and have lots of projects I want to do around the house. I plan to spend more time traveling with my husband and playing with my granddaughter Ivie Mae,” Teems said.
She also doesn’t think her time teaching is entirely over.
“I don’t think this is the end of my career in education but I plan on exploring lots of options before I decide what I am going to do,” she said.
Her recent time has been spent adding another area of expertise to her teaching certificate after she passed testing to be able to add special education to her certificate.
“I have also considered going back to school and starting fresh with something new. I am excited to have the time to explore and work in new areas but I have really loved this chapter of my life,” Teems said.
For now, she’ll get to sit back and enjoy some much-deserved time off from the classroom.
