For most couples, their daily paths separate as they leave the house for work every morning. However, there are some couples that skip the morning goodbyes and instead head to work alongside their spouse.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Brittany Sharitz, language arts teacher, and Kevin Sharitz, technology education teacher, are the latest couple to tie the knot at MHS, marrying on July 30 of this past summer.

“What I like about, not only working on the same profession as my spouse, but with in the same building is that we know everyone we’re talking about in reference to experiences we’ve had or what happened during the day,” Brittany said. “We share a lot more friends than spouses that have different careers might share.”

While being able to work with your significant other proves to have many benefits for a couple, it can impede on privacy in that you share both students and coworkers.

“Dating was complicated at times because we do want a certain level of privacy, not only with students, but also with teachers when you’re just starting to date another teacher in the building,” Brittany said. “There were times where you might want to share an exciting story or talk about your relationship, but you also want to respect your spouse’s privacy and not share too much.”

While most teachers whose spouses do not work at MHS have the option to keep their life outside of school relatively hidden if they so choose, it can be difficult to keep things private when your spouse is just down the hall.

“When Mr. Shartiz and I were dating and his softball athletes knew he had a girlfriend but didn’t know who is was, we went to a basketball game together and a student got out her phone and started taking pictures of me,” Brittany said. “I don’t know if she knew I was a teacher or not, she just knew I was Mr. Sharitz’s girlfriend at the time, so it was a little weird and felt like paparazzi.”

While the couples of MHS may share many things in common during school hours, after school activities and life at home provide the opportunity to enjoy some time apart from both each other and from school.

“He is involved in different after school activities than I am which gives a little bit of separation,” Brittany said. “In terms of teaching, we don’t really talk about a lot of in class stories at home and we don’t talk as much about students as much as they may think we do.”

THE INTEGRATORS

Matt Del Pizzo, social studies teacher, and Lisa Del Pizzo, science teacher, have been married for four years and couldn’t be happier to work in the same building.

“It’s great,” Matt said. “You get married because you like the person, so it’s nice to share common experiences. If she’s upset or work is bothering her, I can better understand and be more sympathetic and empathetic.”

According to Matt, one major benefit of working in the same place as your spouse is the ease of understanding each other’s schedule. While many couples struggle to find time for themselves that coordinates with both of their work agendas, teacher couples at MHS are able to plan around each other’s schedules to easily coordinate work and home life.

“We’re always in tune and we always know what’s going on,” Matt said. “Our schedules are very compatible and it makes it easy to stay in sync.”

Although some couples find it nice to have their own space and a separate work life from their significant other, for Matt, there are nothing but positives.

“There are no negatives and there’s really nothing I regret or don’t like about working with her,” Matt said. “I bring her coffee every day, if I’m sick she can call in for me and set up a sub and she keeps me up to date on what I need to know. A lot of people say they couldn’t work with their husband or wife, and well, maybe that’s a sign you don’t really like them that much.”

Similarly to her husband, Lisa Del Pizzo enjoys the many benefits of working in the same building as her husband such as carpooling when their after school activities allow it, eating lunch together on years when they share the same lunch shift and Matt’s morning coffee deliveries among others.

“One benefit is if there’s ever an emergency we’re both in the same location so getting to one another is very easy,” Lisa said. “If there’s something wrong with one of the kids, we can cover for one another if someone needed to be picked up from school or taken home, so there’s definitely a big convenience factor.”

When it comes to the separation of work and home life, for the Del Pizzos, that line of division isn’t very defined.

“We’ve been friends for so long, we’ve been working together for so long, we have a child that is in high school and attends here; everything is integrated for us so home life is school life,” Lisa said. “If we’re at school our home life is a part of that, if we’re at home our school life is part of that. Marquette kids are friends with our children and they come to our house, we talk about school at home so that if someone is having a bad day the other person understands, there isn’t really much separation.”

From hosting school events together, such as Mr. Mustang last year, to supporting each other’s coaching and after school activities, working in the same building has proven to benefit the Del Pizzos in a way that most couples who don’t work together are unable to experience. Neither Matt nor Lisa say they would change their situation and they feel very fortunate to have adopted such a harmonious dynamic.

THE VETERANS

Another married couple working within the walls of MHS are Mike Ebert, language arts teacher, and Missy Burger, language arts teacher, who were the first couple marry while both spouses were employed at Marquette, marrying in July of 2007.

“The fact that we have the same schedule every day makes things a lot easier,” Ebert said. “If we need to talk to each other we’re only a couple hundred feet away, so that also makes things very easy.”

While having the same schedule makes day to day life relatively easy, it can present a challenge during certain events throughout the year.

“Parent teacher conferences, open houses and things like that can be challenging because we both have them on the same day,” Ebert said. “Although they could be a positive depending on the situation.”
At home, Burger and Ebert try to limit talking about work to a certain time and try to get as much done at school as they can so they can focus on other things.