By Lori EhdeKindergarten teacher Peggy Goettsch told her students this year that she’s been going to school for 50 years.Her 34 years of teaching plus her own years as a student have added up to a half-century in the classroom.Goettsch, Hills, spent the better part of her career — teaching in Luverne. "I’m starting to get children of students I’ve had, so you know it’s getting time to retire," she said. "It’s fun to see how people have grown up."In one case, she said, both parents of one of her students were former students in the same classroom.Goettsch said she’s enjoyed her work, but she decided to take advantage of the Rule of 90, which means her age and her years of experience add up to 90."My brother died last year in a car accident and he was only 51," she said."I looked at that and said life is just too short. I decided when I reached the Rule of 90 I would try relaxing.Goettsch and her husband, Dean Goettsch, are from the Freeborn area where they were both teachers. Dean taught business education in the Freeborn district, and Peggy taught elementary school in Adams for a year and then in Alden for seven years.She said she’s always loved kids and grew up babisitting frequently, so in many ways teaching was a fulfillment of her childhood dream."We used to play school when we were little, and an old sewing machine was my teacher’s desk," Goettsch said. "Since I was four and six years older than my siblings, I got to be the teacher."When the Freeborn school started downsizing, Dean felt his position would be eliminated and he accepted a position at the Exchange State Bank in Hills. Peggy then sent her resume to schools near that community.When Luverne offered her a job, she took it. She started teaching when the Luverne elementary school was still in the center of town. Her room was in the northwest corner of the building, and there were no bathrooms and no running water near her classroom."The boys had to go upstairs to use the bathroom, and the girls had to go across the gym," she said. "I had a girl in a wheel chair and I had to carry her up the stairs."Ed Salzer was elementary principal at the time and Norm Miller was superintendent.Three days after she signed her contract in Luverne, the Hills school offered a position.Despite other career opportunities through the years, Goettsch said she’s enjoyed living in Hills and working in Luverne."I would have had to teach my own children if I worked in Hills," she said, adding that the arrangement has allowed her to meet more people."I’ll miss the friendships at school."She said one highlight of her career in Luverne was heading up the Junior First Grade program, which was for students who had completed kindergarten but weren’t yet ready for first grade. "It was a challenge," she said. "But it was exciting to see them catch on. All of a sudden they’d say, ‘I got it! Now I know what you’re talking about.’"Goettsch said it was rewarding for her to see her Junior First Grade students go on to make the A and B honor rolls in high school."Kindergarten was just overwhelming for them," she said. "It just gave them another year to mature."She taught the program for 12 years, but when all day every day kindergarten was implemented, the program wasn’t as needed as much, because teachers were able to work with students in the afternoon to catch up.Now, with kindergarten cut to half days again, Goettsch said Luverne is implementing a program similar to Junior First Grade, called "Transitional First Grade.""A half day just isn’t long enough to teach the curriculum," she said. "They need time to run and play in between."She said she’ll miss the relationships she’s had with their students. "I had one student on my last day hug me and give me a kiss on the cheek and say, ‘I love you Mrs. Goettsch.’ And you’d think after as much as I had to scold that little boy, he wouldn’t love me very much," she said."Every child is different, and every child has a different background, so you’ve got to be creative with your approach."The Goettsches have two grown children, Annette and Tony, who both live in Sioux Falls and both work at First National Bank.