Mary Lynn Bush — longtime assistant principal at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent — is retiring after 15 years of service in the role.
Bush’s duties included overseeing instruction at the school, including evaluating and observing teachers, and helping implement best instructional practices in the classroom. She served as a student advocate for two graduating classes at a time, attending all Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings and 504 plan meetings for students with disabilities. Bush held students accountable for inappropriate choices in the classroom and assisted them in making better ones.
She also oversaw building operations as a system manager, participating on the safety committee and the building and administrative teams to make sure the day-to-day operation of the school ran smoothly.
Hailing from Elyria, Bush graduated from Elyria Catholic High School before attending Kent State University. She was drawn to teaching after matriculating as a nursing student.
“After almost passing out in the blood lab, I took some time to self reflect,” she said. “I realized that all of my volunteerism involved teaching others, such as Sunday school and tutoring fellow classmates.”
After graduating in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics education and a minor in English, she set out to find a job teaching, but found positions hard to come by.
“I substitute taught around the area and ended up in Akron,” she said.
Eventually, Bush interviewed for a teaching position in the Akron Public Schools while nine months pregnant.
“They hired me anyway, knowing that they would have to have a substitute start the school year,” Bush said.
She would go on to teach in the city for nine academic years at the South Alternative School and Central-Hower High School.
Bush loved her time in Akron, but wanted to be closer to home as a mom of four kids. While on maternity leave with her daughter Sarah, she heard of three open positions for math teachers in the Kent City School District. She applied and began teaching at Roosevelt in 2000.
Bush was originally a part of the former Bridges Academy at Central School. An at-risk youth program, Bush taught for half the day at Central and the other half at Roosevelt.
“It was fun — I loved it,” she said.
She was given the opportunity to pursue a fully funded master’s program while at Akron, but the time was not right as a working mom. While at Kent, she received another opportunity in the form of grant money to pursue a master’s degree in education administration.
“I was able to get my master’s for about half the cost of what it would have been had I just done it on my own,” Bush said.
After graduation, Bush kept working in the district. She recalled thinking that, if she got a job in Kent, she was “meant to be an administrator.” Otherwise, she would wait until her kids finished school.
“But luckily an opening came about and they selected me,” Bush said.
She started as an assistant principal at Roosevelt in 2009.
The switch from teaching to her current role was inspired by her coworkers.
“The interest came from other administrators that told me when they saw me teaching and working with me ‘You really would make a great administrator,’” she said.
Early on the job, Bush oversaw 9th and 10th grade classes at the high school. She switched to being responsible for classes with even graduation years after Dennis Love became the building’s principal.
Love, who has known Bush since 2000, recalled her unwavering commitment to students.
“Her passion for helping and serving kids is incredible,” he said.
It was not uncommon for Love to leave school and see Bush in her office tutoring kids in math, on top of her administrative job.
“Being a passionate advocate for students is the driving force behind all of my roles as an assistant principal,” Bush said.
She is most proud of being a part of the team effort at Roosevelt that helped make students successful — and helped them learn they are loveable.
She encourages those interested in the educational field to pursue the career despite negativity or struggles post-pandemic.
“Kids are still amazing,” she said.
Bush’s position will be filled by Ellen Penglase. She is a Brimfield native who worked in Los Angeles as an intervention specialist before returning to work at both Stanton Middle School and Roosevelt.
