Beloved Central Texas teacher now educating daughters of some of her first students from early 90s

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A beloved Central Texas educator who is in her 37th year in the classroom is teaching two students this school year whose dads were some of her first students three decades ago.

Kim Neuhaus is a first-grade teacher at South Bosque Elementary in the Midway ISD.

In 1991, she taught her first first-grade class at South Bosque as Ms. Bailey, which is her maiden name, and in that class, was Waco-area physical therapist Tyler Jones, now 38.

The next school year, Tyler’s lifelong friend, Kyle Citrano, now 37 and a managing partner at George’s restaurant, also landed Ms. Bailey.

Both adored the teacher known for her gentle spirit and extreme dedication to kids, and their relationship with Neuhaus continued for years.

As Citrano and Jones grew up, married and had children now living in Waco, they often dreamed about the possibility of having Mrs. Neuhaus for their own kids.

“I remember when we moved back home and reached out to her and said, ‘please keep teaching,’ especially, once we got pregnant and had our first child,” Citrano said. “It was about ‘please stick around so we can have you do that’ because it’s just such a unique thing to be able to say that you have a kid that was taught by your same teacher.”

The South Bosque graduates’ dreams came true this school year.

Kyle’s daughter, Emery, and Tyler’s daughter, Hadley, waited with bated breath to find out their classroom assignments for first grade. It may have been tough to determine who was more excited, the dads or the daughters, when both landed Mrs. Neuhaus.

“I remember when we told Hadley she just let out the biggest scream that she was going to get to have daddy’s teacher,” Jones said. “It was really, really fun. Even one of my oldest friends that was in our first-grade class together, Arden, I told her about it, and she just lost it, which again, just speaks to Mrs. Neuhaus, that even 30 years later, we have such a strong connection with her.”

Citrano said it’s been amazing witnessing his daughter make similar memories.

“30 years flies by in a flash and it’s just been incredible to watch my daughter go into that same classroom and spend the same quality time that I did as a kid to get to have some of the same lessons,” Citrano said. “To have some of the same things sent home is just really special.”

Neuhaus jokes that “she’s old” when talking about teaching a second generation in a family, but says she wouldn’t have it any other way. She considers teaching a calling from God.

“I know that God put me here and I think when you spend time developing relationships it makes the teaching so much easier and so much more fun and then to be able to have the second generation is just amazing,” she said.

When asked if another generation of students is in the pipeline, Neuhaus says she’ll know when it’s time to hang it up.

“When Jesus tells me to stop,” she said.

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