Photo courtesy of Jill Shugart

The Shugart/Russell/Gonzales family has several members who work in the district. Pictured on the back row are Mallory Russell, Magen Russell, Joel Russell, Jill Shugart, Mikaela Gonzales, and Hunter Gonzales. Pictured on the front row are Cole Russell, Brooks Gonzales, and Hayes Gonzales.

A family is defined as the center of love, care, strength, and support. Families stick together through the highs and lows and will always be there for each other; it’s even easier to be there as a support system when those family members work with each other on a daily basis. 

Out of the 12 members of the Shugart/Russell family, eight of them are either employed with LCMCISD or students in the district.

Joel Russell, the LCM Director of Technology, is married to Magen Russell, an education diagnostician at the high school. Joel’s sister, Jill Shugart, teaches English III at the high school. Jill’s daughter, Mikaela Gonzales, is a speech-language pathologist for the district, and her husband, Hunter, is a teacher and coach at the high school. Both of the Russell’s children are students at the high school, and the Gonzales’ oldest son, Brooks, goes to Little Cypress Elementary.

According to Magen, working in the same district as so many of her family members is wonderful.

“It’s nice walking down the halls and seeing an extra familiar face,” she said. “Someone who knows you on a deep and personal level, someone you know you can be 100% of yourself around, and someone who can give you that extra feeling of comfort when you need it. It’s also nice to be able to see the success they achieve on a professional level.” 

Magen and Joel’s children attend the high school; Mallory is a junior, and Cole is a sophomore. Magen said the biggest advantage of being on the same campus as her kids is being able to be there when they need her.

“I love seeing their excitement at the pep rallies, hearing their names called over the speaker, or simply passing them in the halls and seeing them with their friends,” Magen said.

Joel and Magen have not always worked in a place where they can call themselves Battlin’ Bears, and the disadvantages of that were prominent. At one point, Magen left LCM to pursue a promotion, and after four years, she said she missed her family tremendously. Joel worked elsewhere as well before coming to LCM, and he said he did not get to see his family near as often as he does now, and the stress was much more intense. 

“I worked in a private industry before coming to LCM, and it was tough,” Joel said. “The pressure was much more intense, the hours were much longer, and the time off was less frequent. It is never fun when you have to get up and go to work, while the rest of your family around you are still sleeping.” 

According to Cole, Joel and Magen’s son, some advantages to having his family around all the time while he’s at school is how much they are able to help him. 

“My sister helps me become well known of the grade above, so it is nice to know that I can go to her for help with things like my summer reading or math,” Cole said. “A disadvantage, though, is that sometimes she has a good influence on the teachers I would have the next year, and some of them compare me to her, saying that I am nothing like my sister.” 

Jill Shugart, Joel’s sister, has worked at LCM since the fall of 2012 and all of her kids have graduated from the district.

“I grew up and graduated here,” Shugart said. “I couldn’t imagine them going anywhere else. The biggest advantage of having my kids at school with me was watching them grow up and  watching their friendships develop and grow over the years. Another advantage was knowing exactly who they were hanging out with and knowing all of their teachers.”

Jill’s daughter, Mikaela, just started working for the district this year, and she said her favorite part of working for LCM are the people and students that she gets to work with every day.

“I am a part of an amazing team of people, especially those that are in my family,” Mikaela said. “I am learning from some of the best. I also love being close to home and being close to our two little boys.”

Mikaela said the best part of working with her family is the support they give her – especially since it is her first year.

“My mom and husband constantly have to give me directions around the high school,” she said. “My aunt is a diagnostician, so she and I collaborate and work together often with our roles. The family is together most days outside of school, so even after hours we continue to talk about work. At the end of the day, I know people I work with will always have my back and that’s a good feeling to have.”