Faculty members make love connection
BY STEPHANIE KOHL skohl@pioneerlocal.com February 10, 2012 9:11AM
BARRINGTON Tuesday Jan 31 2012 April and Charles Wells are married and both work in D220.| Michelle LaVigne~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 10, 2012 8:03AM
Barrington Community Unit School District 220 knows a little something about romance.
The district is home to 26 married couples, as of Jan. 17. While some had met and married before joining District 220, the district played a role in connecting several of its couples.
BILL AND JOAN BELL
Bill and Joan Bell started with Barrington High School just one year apart, Joan, a guidance counselor and 1977 Barrington alum, in 1998 and Bill, a social studies teacher, in 1999. For years they had a professional respect for each other, but didn’t start dating until 2005.
“The stars aligned in 2005,” Joan said. “Something just started to click.”
The two were married on May 25, 2006, the 60th anniversary of Joan’s parents’ wedding day.
This is the second marriage for both of them and they’re sporting a Brady Bunch-style crew. Bill brings Erin, 20, Kyler, 19, and Lauren, 16, to the mix. Joan brings Emily, 23, Anna, 21 and Laura, 18.
Actually, the two blame Emily for their relationship, in a good way. Emily was taught by Bill when she was a sophomore in high school and always talked about what a nice person he was.
“(Bill) is one of the most positive people about life,” Joan said. “He helps me stay positive.”
Since they were in different departments, when they first started dating, they had to go out of their way to see each other.
Now Bill stops by to see Joan at least once a day and although the two don’t drive together to school because of their different schedules, Bill makes sure to brush off Joan’s car when it snows.
The two love doing things together, like attending Barrington basketball games, and have similar outlooks.
“I never knew like-minds were meant to fall in love until I met Joan,” Bill said.
BRIAN AND
CAROLYN TURCOTTE
Brian and Carolyn Turcotte both started at Barrington Middle School-Prairie Campus in 2001, Carolyn, an English teacher, as a teacher’s aide and Brian as the school social worker. As Carolyn was a special education aide, their paths would often cross. Both used talking about music to connect with students and soon found themselves sharing bands they liked, books and movies and often socializing with the same people. Carolyn left the school to pursue other things for awhile, but the two kept in touch. When she returned to a nearby school district in 2005, she let Brian know she was back in town. In April 2005, they went on their first date, a concert in the city. On July 15, 2006 they were married.
“We had all these things in common and we were connected in a way,” he said. “We liked each other as friends... I think the first time it occurred to us we could have a dating relationship, we did.”
Carolyn returned to Barrington Middle School-Prairie Campus in 2007 as a student teacher and then returned as a teacher in fall 2008.
“I knew I wanted to come back to Prairie,” Carolyn said. “I love working with Brian.”
Just recently the two realized the classroom where Carolyn has been teaching for the past four years is directly across the hall from the classroom in which the two met in 2001. While on maternity leave following their daughter Sofia’s birth on July 4, 2011, Carolyn brought their daughter to visit the school and showed her the classroom where her parents met.
Not only do the two almost always drive to school together, they also have the same lunch period so they get to see each other in the middle of the day.
“It’s so easy for us because we agree on issues and education,” Carolyn said. “Why wouldn’t you want to work with someone you love?”
CHARLES AND APRIL WELLS
Working for the same school district has given Charles, graphic arts assistant in the district’s print shop, and April, extended resource teacher at Sunny Hill School, the opportunity to coordinate their schedules for maximum family time. The two married Dec. 31, 2004. In 2005, Charles took a job with Barrington 220 and five years ago, April followed him. They have two children, Kennedy, 12, and Sydney, 4, and are expecting their third child in August.
“It seemed so much of what we wanted from our careers, we found here,” April said.
While the two work in different district buildings, because of April’s position, she attends meetings at the high school pretty regularly, allowing her and Charles to have lunch together when she is there.
“We can just have that time carved out for just the two of us,” April said.
Charles said that working for the same district has been cool because they can spend so much time with their children. Because Charles starts earlier than April, it is April’s job to get the kids up and ready for school in the morning. And in the afternoon, Charles is able to pick up the girls and be with them after school. One of the first phrases their children learned to read was “Barrington Broncos” because of all the District 220 gear the family has acquired.
As Charles prepares to celebrate his birthday on Valentine’s Day, he still remembers how smitten he was with April the first time he met her. He remembers so much, he is still able to recall exactly what she was wearing: nice-fitting jeans, a tan sleeveless, V-neck summer sweater and brown clog shoes, and her hair was micro-braided.
“I thought ‘Wow, she’s kid of fly,’” Charles said.
CRAIG AND AMY WINKELMAN
Craig and Amy Winkelman moved into the Barrington 220 boundaries so husband, wife and children would all be on the same schedule.
The family covers Lake-Cook Road pretty well, with children Kate, 7, and Tori, 5, attending Countryside Elementary School, Craig os the principal of Barrington Middle School-Station Campus, and Amy is a diagnostician in special services for Barrington High School. Everyone having the same days off, vacations and similar daily schedules helps the family maximize time together.
With all of the matching District 220 schedules, the Winkelmans have an evening routine down and have dinner together every night.
“We both spend all day with other people’s kids,” Craig said. “This is our time to be with our kids.”
Craig has been with District 220 for 14 years, starting at Barrington High School. Amy has been with the district for 16 years, starting at Barrington Middle School-Station. When Craig took the position of assistant principal at Barrington Middle School-Station, the two swapped schools. Despite working in separate buildings, because so many administration meetings are held at the high school, the two are often able to have lunch together.
“The best part (of working for the same district) is just after school, being able to talk through things,” Amy said.
The Winkelmans married on June 13, 1998 and met during a student teaching stint during the 1994-95 school year. Amy grew up in the Barrington area and graduated from Barrington High School in 1991.
STEVE AND JOLIE GALOVICH
Despite rejecting Jolie’s first invitation to the Barrington High School prom, Steve and Jolie Galovich have attended prom every year since the 2000-01 school year.
Steve, a psychology teacher and 18-year veteran of Barrington High School, and Jolie, a chemistry teacher and 17-year veteran of Barrington High School, worked at the school together for at least three years before they knew each other. It was through an unplanned lunch with mutual friends in spring 1999 that the two met for the first time and seemed to hit it off, so much so that Jolie invited Steve to prom, which she was running at the time.
“I said ‘no,’ but within a couple days, I asked her out,” Steve said.
The couple dated for about four months before anyone knew about their relationship, but when they attended the wedding of another co-worker together, the cat was out of the bag. The two married on Dec. 29, 2000 and have four children Becca, 10, Lizzie, 7, and 5-year-old twins Bryan and Gabe.
Although their department offices are right across the hall from each other, the two have never had the same lunch period or opens in their schedules. They generally can’t drive to school together either, because Steve coaches football after school.
“As much as we’re here at the same school and our offices are across from each other, we’re in our own different worlds, but we support each other,” Steve said. “I think teaching together, I couldn’t imagine a better situation.”
Although the two aren’t overly affectionate at school — they’d never hold hands in the hallway or share a kiss where students can see them — the football field is a different story. After every single game, Steve finds Jolie for a kiss on the field.
Because their schedules are so different, the two rarely see each other during the day and if they do, it is often by accident.
“When I see him in the hallway and I don’t expect to see him, I still smile,” Jolie said.
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