This year, the ADM school district hosts a unique type of situation within its high school staffing in that three teachers, from three completely different education departments, are family. This is referring to guidance counselor Carrie Laizure, art teacher Chloe Safley and math teacher Gabriel Laizure, who have spent many years together as a family and are now embarking on life as coworkers as well.

Safley, who was hired nearly three years ago in 2023, was the first of the trio to start at ADM. It turns out that she played a part in pointing her mother (Carrie) and brother (Gabriel) to employment opportunities at the high school. She first discussed how her mother got hired in 2024. 

Safley said, “She worked at Urbandale for a long time as a middle school counselor and she wasn’t super happy in that position. There was just a lot of stuff that she was responsible for. So I knew she was looking around, and I heard about a position opening up here. I said that she should apply, and she did, and she got it.”

Carrie shared her end of this interaction, too. 

“I loved my location. I loved my job. But I was getting ready for a change. And this one kind of just opened up. I hadn’t worked with high schoolers before, so it’s fun. It’s been a good change,” Carrie said. 

It was a similar story with Gabriel, who was hired in 2025, making this year his first year working as a teacher. 

Safley said, “He [Gabriel] had just graduated from Iowa State and did student teaching last year. So, he was looking for a job, and he was in the area, so I said, ‘Why not apply here?’ And he did, and got the job.”

Gabriel went more in-depth with his description of how he was first hired. 

“When I first heard about it, I was at Madrid High School doing student teaching. I had just started looking at jobs, and I wasn’t really sure where I wanted to go, but I had always told my sister ‘I’m not going to teach where you’re going to teach,” Gabriel said. “But then it just happened that right when I started looking, she told me, ‘Oh, there’s an opening here.’ So I applied that day and, within a week, I got a message back, so the whole interview process probably took two weeks.”

With that, Gabriel remarked on how appreciative he was of his sister for the recommendation.  

“What she told me wasn’t really insider information because it was public to everyone, but it really made me more aware of the position,” Gabriel said. “And it was kinda nice just being able to go somewhere and have some knowledge of the school, more than just what you can find on Google. I just liked knowing the environment, what it’s like at the school, before I even applied and went through those steps.”

This year was the first year that all three of them have worked together, so they all talked through how that has affected their lives inside the workplace. While they had slightly varying perspectives, they seemed to all reach the general consensus that they don’t spend much time together while at school. To start, Gabriel made known his view on the little time he sees his mother and sister within school walls.

“I thought I would hang out with them or see them a little bit more. I thought I’d have more time with them than I do because it still feels like I’m kind of in the math world and just with the math teachers,” Gabriel said. “I thought I would deal with my mom a lot more since she’s a counselor and they have a pretty big role in the school. And with Chloe, I thought I would probably see her a lot more, and I really don’t see her ever outside of advisory time because we’re both 11th-grade advisors. So yeah, it’s kind of cool being able to play dodgeball against her twice a year, but other than that it’s indifferent.”  

Carrie reinstated this idea in her response. 

“Honestly, I know where professionalism has to lie, and they’re the same way. And frankly, there’s no time [to visit]. Our schedules don’t overlap really, and as a teacher, you get so little free time,” Carrie said. “I thought it would be like ‘You just do your job, and I’ll do mine,’ and that’s where it’s been.”

Safley also chimed in with her thoughts on how she expected working with her mother and brother to be like compared to how it actually is. 

“I didn’t have too many concerns. I had a pretty good relationship with both of them. It’s always weird working with your parent and being colleagues now, but I think it helps that we have different last names, so most of the students didn’t even know we were related,” Safley said. “I wanted to make sure that I didn’t lose my authority because my mother and brother worked in the same building, but I think the different names kind of helped with that.” 

Carrie echoed this same lack of concern that her daughter did, along with adding how thankful she is for their unique situation.

“Never, in my wildest dream, did I ever think I’d teach at the same place as my children. It’s really cool,” Carrie said.

Next, they all discussed how their work arrangement positively affected their lives outside of school. 

“I’d say I’m a little bit closer with my mom than I probably would be if she didn’t work here. I’ll call her on my way home from work since she lives in Polk City and I live in Dallas Center,” Safley said. “It’s nice to just see my family members a little bit more frequently. It reminds me to touch base with them.”

Safley also added the more practical convenience of having the same destination as her mom every day. 

“One thing I will say is that it has helped me a lot in the winters when our cars don’t work. We can carpool every once in a while, so it saves me when the car’s in the shop or something,” Safley said. 

Carrie also brought up carpooling, this time referring to with her son. 

“Mr. Laizure and I carpool most days, and that’s most of what makes up the time that we see each other before or after school. I live about 10 minutes farther than him, so I just pick him up on the way. It’s been kind of fun. It’s unique,” Carrie said. 

Along with that, Gabriel discussed how the family could more comfortably talk about work together since they now have that commonality.  

“We talk about work more than when I was student teaching, because then, none of us really talked about our work because none of it was really overlapping. But now that we do work at the same place, it comes up a lot more often than it did in the past,” Gabriel said. 

When asked how working with her children affected her overall work experience, Carrie summed it up by responding honestly. 

“I would say, especially since I’m towards the latter part of my career, because I’m closer to retirement, that it is probably the most enjoyable time I’ve ever had teaching. Like, this is golden. This is the best,” Carrie said.