November 20, 2024 • 30 mins
In the premiere episode of Talk 204, USD 204 Superintendent Rick Moulin chats with fellow Brave alum Klayton Coffman, who recently returned to the Bonner Springs/Edwardsville School District as a teacher at Clark Middle School. Together, they reflect on their shared love of baseball, the nostalgia of Chicken Patty Wednesdays, and the deep sense of community that shaped their journeys. Tune in for this heartfelt conversation that celebrates coming full circle in a district they both call home.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to Talk 204, the podcast where we engage with our community, celebrate our successes,
(00:13):
and build meaningful connections.
My name is Rick Mullen and I'm Superintendent of Bonner Springs-Edderville Unified School
District Number 204.
I'm excited to bring you this new platform for sharing the stories that matter most to
our school district.
I graduated from Bonner Springs High School in 1990.
(00:33):
This is my 29th year working in the district.
I started off as a high school English teacher, was a guidance counselor, high school assistant
principal, middle school principal, high school principal, assistant superintendent, and now
superintendent.
Today I'm thrilled to introduce our first guest, Clayton Kaufman.
(00:55):
Clayton is also a graduate of Bonner Springs High School, a few years later than me though,
in 2019.
Clayton is in his first year teaching at Clark Middle School.
We'll be talking with him about what inspired him to become a teacher and how his experience
as a student in our district has played a role in his journey.
Before we jump into that conversation, I want to highlight something truly special about
(01:20):
Bonner Springs-Edderville School District.
89 of our current employees are former students.
That means one in five of our staff members have come back to serve the community that
raised them.
To me, that speaks volumes about the dedication of our teachers and our support staff.
Our staff really do make a difference, and Clayton's story is a perfect example of that.
(01:46):
Let's dive into our conversation with Clayton.
We'll be talking about our shared love of baseball, Clayton's unique experience working
alongside his former teachers, and a pleasant surprise he discovered on Chicken Patty Wednesday.
It's going to be a fun and insightful conversation.
Let's get started.
(02:13):
Welcome to Talk204.
My name is Rick Mullen, your host.
Our first guest, Clayton Kaufman, Bonner Springs High School class of 2019, and first year
teacher at Clark Middle School teaching sixth grade math.
Clayton, welcome to the show.
Hey, thanks for having me, Mr. Mullen.
Glad to be here.
Hey, Clayton, I got to ask you, how does it feel to come back to teach in your former
(02:34):
school?
It's pretty cool.
It's been a really, really neat experience for me, getting to be back, getting to be
home.
There's a familiarity with it, even with all of the new things.
In a new role, seeing things kind of from the other side as a student, now as a teacher.
But it's home, and so that's been really nice to be home.
(02:58):
Yeah, well, we're glad to have you back.
And I remember calling you last spring when I found out you were teaching and asking you,
hey, have you ever thought about coming home?
So what made you decide to come back to Bonner Springs and teach at Clark Middle School?
You know, when you reached out, that was, I'd kind of been thinking about coming back
(03:19):
this way, you know, coming back to the Kansas City area, you know, growing up here.
I love Kansas City, my family is all in the area.
I had cousins moving back to the area around this same year, too.
And so, but being here and not being in Bonner Springs would have not made sense to me.
(03:42):
You know, this really is home, this community, this school district really helped to shape
me, helped to mold me, grown me into the man that I am today, you know.
And so to be able to give back to my community in that same way that it gave to me, I think
is really special and something that I was really looking forward to being able to do.
Well, that's great.
(04:03):
So as before mentioned, you're class of 2019.
At what point did you decide, I'm going to become a teacher?
And then talk a little bit about when you made that decision, what was the road to come
back home?
Because there were some stops in between.
Yeah, so it was probably spring my senior year when I decided I wanted to be a teacher,
(04:25):
you know, maybe fall around Christmas time.
But it was definitely my senior year for a long time from when I was a little, little
kid.
Up until then, I wanted to go into TV.
I wanted to call baseball games.
You know, that's what I wanted to do.
But through working with some kids at church and whatnot, I really found this love for
(04:50):
kids and working with young people.
And that's when I thought, you know, I need to do this.
This is what I'm supposed to do.
And so I thought about it and I thought the best way to do that is as a teacher.
And so then as I was getting ready for college, I knew there are a couple of things that I
(05:10):
wanted to do in college.
I wanted to get a teaching degree.
I wanted to go to a Christian school and I wanted to be able to play baseball.
And so I got the opportunity to do that at an NAIA school in northeast Oklahoma, Oklahoma
Wesleyan University.
So I went there to pursue a degree in education to get to play baseball.
(05:33):
And so I was able to do that throughout my college career.
And then as I was winding down, I got an opportunity last year to teach second grade in the school
where I did my student teaching there in northeast Oklahoma, which was a really, really neat
opportunity for me.
I was excited to get to do it, get to stay around where I went to school.
(05:56):
And so I was able to do that, but always with the goal long term of winding up back in this
area back in Bonner Springs.
And so I'm fortunate enough to be able to do that now.
Yeah, I think I had a similar experience.
You talked about working with kids at church and deciding, you know, I want to become a
teacher because I can help kids.
(06:16):
I remember when I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do.
And some of my best memories were number one, my teachers.
I had great teachers who had a tremendous impact and I wanted to be just like my teachers.
But I also remember I had a kid in class who at the time I didn't realize it, but had an
IEP and needed some additional support.
(06:37):
And the teacher would have me go in the hallway and work with the kid and help him learn because
he struggled with reading.
And I found that really meaningful for me.
The kid that I was working with benefited.
And then as I was deciding what to do, I thought, I want to be a teacher because I want to make
an impact.
Did you have a watershed moment like that as you were growing up?
(07:01):
Or what were the influencing factors when you were a student at Eddersville Elementary,
at Clark Middle School, and then at Bonner Springs High School that made you decide,
I need to teach?
I don't know if there was ever really one moment for me, but I look back and I look
at teachers that I had through the years.
(07:22):
And specifically, I look back at the men that I had in schools.
I think of people like Aaron Miller, guys like Jacob Beck, Brandon Job, Spencer Davidson,
you and just these guys that all throughout my life, all throughout my schooling were
(07:46):
there every day, were guys that I could show up and we could have a conversation about
the Royals.
I could talk to about the Chiefs game, whatever the deal was, that were just there for me
as men in my life, but then they were also there as teachers, as educators, helping me
(08:07):
in that journey.
But just as a whole person and seeing me as that and helping to lead me and shape me in
that way, it's those kinds of relationships I think that really helped push me to be the
teacher that I want to be and the educator that I want to be.
(08:29):
And I remember back when you were a student, and I don't remember if it was your junior
year or your sophomore year that we started doing the segment Mullen's Minute and you
and I had a weekly segment on TP Talk and that was a lot of fun.
So it's only fitting that the first episode of Talk 204 is with Clayton Kaufman who was
(08:51):
my Mullen Minute sidekick.
What do you remember about those experiences?
Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
You know, just coming up and it was lots of the time we'd show up and we'd be like, well
what do we want to do this week?
You know, we knew there were always a few things that we wanted to do each of the years
that we did that.
There were a couple of big things we wanted to hit around whatever time it was that we
(09:15):
were filming it.
You know, there were certain things that we wanted to talk about, but then we'd get kind
of into holes and just trying to figure out, well what are we going to do?
And then we'd come up with an idea and just like, well now we need to make this exciting
for people to want to watch it.
Just kind of those brainstorming sessions and then a lot of the time we went in with
(09:35):
half a plan and hit record and just saw what happened and I think it worked out most of
the time.
But that was a good time and it was a fun way to kind of get to do some kind of announcements
or hey we need to talk about this kind of things for the school, but we were able to
do it in a fun and unique way.
Yeah, and I don't know if you know this or not, but because as a student I only knew
(09:59):
from it as being the principal at Bonner Springs High School, but part of the goal of the whole
Mullins Minute was to try to teach students some life lessons.
So if you recall, we did a segment on the proper way to shake another person's hand.
How to get a prom date, those types of things, but really about being respectful and just
(10:20):
having fun with real life situations and things that hopefully help teenagers deal with situations
they were facing in life.
And another thing that I thought was really cool about that was that we had a principal
that I noticed this as a student, you know, was that you as the principal that we had
a principal who was willing to go out of his way to do a silly little thing like that to
(10:44):
invest in us and I think that that's just an excellent picture of what leadership is
and, you know, how to lead well and to serve those that you're leading, you know, and that
you would take the time out of your day because I know there's probably a thousand other things
you could have been doing, you know, in those 20 or 30 minutes or whatever it took us to
(11:08):
film and get that ready to go, but you would just take time to step out of what you were
doing to interact with students even in that small way.
Well, I'll tell you what, it was probably the highlight of my week every week was filming
with you and so that was part of the reason I was so excited to get you back because I
know that you're making a difference right now in the classroom and you genuinely care
(11:31):
about our kids.
You talked a little bit earlier about your experience as a student and some of the impact
that your teachers had on you.
How does your experiences as a student in USD 204 help you connect with your students
in your sixth grade class?
I think just like having been in their shoes, you know, and it's like I start to get kind
(11:53):
of some of the struggles or some of the things that they're feeling because I've been there,
you know, I've been here.
I know, you know, if it's whatever, you know, Tomahawk Trot, that's something that I was
able to tell kids, you know, this is something I got to do.
I was in the first time we ever called it the Tomahawk Trot.
I got a run in it, you know, and just kind of these little things, these little experiences
(12:16):
that I've got to share along the way and help me understand where they're at and the situation
that they're in.
I think just gives me, has helped to give me a better picture of who they are and hopefully
to invest better in them.
Yeah, so you're back at Clark Middle School and as previously mentioned, you graduated
(12:37):
from Bonner Springs High School in 2019.
You went to Clark Middle School.
You went to Eddersville Elementary since kindergarten and so you spent your entire educational life
in the Bonner Springs Eddersville School District.
Now you're back teaching.
Are you teaching with some of your, are some of your colleagues also some of your former
teachers when you were a student?
(12:58):
And if so, how's that going?
Yeah, it's been really neat.
I was like, Kyle Razak in the math department was my seventh grade math teacher.
Ann Decker was my eighth grade algebra teacher, you know, so those are just a couple that
are in my department that I work with every day, you know, and so it's neat now too because
(13:21):
I get to, I've already learned so much from them.
You know, they helped to shape me in my math and now I get to sit in, you know, meetings
with them every week and kind of listen to how they go about teaching and learn now about
teaching from them, which has been really neat and it's, I think it's something that's
(13:43):
been cool to me because I've seen how they are as a teacher.
I've seen how the effects that they have as teachers on students from the students perspective.
You know, I know that they are good at what they do and now getting to sit on the other
side of it with them and learn from them and talk with them has been, it's been really
(14:04):
cool.
Yeah, I've always said that the biggest compliment we get as a school district is when former
students want to come back and work for us and currently I think we have something like
88 former students who are now employees of the district and when I talk to our teachers
and our staff, you know, that's a testament to the work that they've done because they
build a culture where people want to come back and they want to be just like their teachers.
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They want to make a difference.
Speaking of that, let's talk about lunch.
Yeah.
And you're in the lunch room every day now and I don't know how you feel but I remember
when I graduated from high school, one of the things I missed most about being a student
was the school lunches.
Oh yeah.
And I remember back in my day it was Crispedos and the hot ham and cheese roll ups and now
(14:52):
for the past 29 years I've enjoyed a chicken patty just about every Wednesday.
Absolutely.
Chicken patty Wednesday is my favorite day of the week.
Mr. Mullen, I get to sit down, I get to have me a chicken patty, you know, some mashed potatoes.
I was really excited.
I remember in high school when they introduced the spicy chicken patty to us and I was hoping
(15:12):
when I came back in the middle school they were going to have spicy chicken patty because
we didn't have it when I was in middle school.
Now I have a spicy chicken patty every Wednesday and it's the highlight of my week.
Hey, can I give you one tip?
Yes.
When you get that spicy chicken patty it always gets served with a roll.
Go ahead and open the roll up and use it as a bun and put that chicken patty right there
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in between the roll and now you've got yourself a real treat.
There we go.
Put some mashed potatoes on there too.
That's good stuff.
That's what I'm talking about.
So I don't know if this has happened to you but my first year teaching of course I was
fresh out of college just like you are now and I remember going through the lunch line
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and there were times where the cafeteria workers thought that I was still a student and so
when they went to charge me they gave me the student price instead of the adult price and
I tried to reason with them and say hey I'm a teacher because I was proud to be a teacher
but they kind of looked at me like are you sure?
Yeah.
Do you get that?
(16:13):
Only once or twice.
You were in the high school so I'm at the middle school so I do have a little bit of
an advantage there but I did I had to go hunt down my lunch code the first day of school.
I didn't know how to find it in Skyward so I went in and asked Miss Angie for my lunch
code and she looked it up for me and I remember it's the same lunch code I had when I was
(16:36):
a student so it was easy to learn.
Wow.
So they gave you the exact same lunch code.
And then I got on there I still had left over money that my mom had loaded up from when
I was in school so I got a couple of lunches for free.
I tell you what Clayton if you were as smart as I know you are you should call your mom
and tell her you're running low on your lunch account and see if she'll keep adding to it.
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I should.
That'd be pretty good.
She might do that for me.
My guest is Clayton Kaufman class of 2019.
Clayton is obviously a graduate of Bonner Springs High School and now he's teaching
math at Clark Middle School in his first year.
Clayton you're also coaching.
I am.
(17:18):
Let's talk a little bit about that and how that's going.
Yeah so I got to coach football in the fall and I'll coach baseball in the spring.
Obviously football season with the record and what not didn't quite go as well as we
were hoping but it was a great experience.
I learned a lot this season.
(17:38):
I had never played football in my life.
I've watched a lot of football.
I remember being in weights class and listening to Coach Eaddy as he talked to the football
team.
So I could pick up things here or there but there was lots of learning done this season
about just the game of football, about coaching in general, about leadership, lots of good
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things to learn.
I enjoyed that experience.
I'm excited for next football season and I'm really eager for baseball here in the spring.
I'm a baseball guy and so that's one thing.
I remember telling Coach Lecker when I was in high school my senior year, me and a couple
of my buddies, we said Coach you've only got four more years because we're coming back
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and we'll do this after that.
So I'm glad to be back doing that too.
Yeah coaching is such a rewarding position, a rewarding job.
You get to work with kids, you get to make an impact on kids but it's also stressful
from time to time because like you said earlier the win-loss record didn't go the way you
had hoped this year and nobody puts more pressure on a coach than a coach puts on himself or
(18:48):
herself.
So you made it through the fall.
Now you've got a little bit of break for winter and you're gearing up for baseball season.
What's your plans for the winter?
Just relax, get home at a decent time.
You know probably going to play lots of college football in my spare time you know but yeah
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I'm excited for a little bit of a break.
You know that coaching takes a toll, it's a little bit of a grind.
It's a good time.
I'm glad to be doing it but yeah a little break is definitely going to be nice.
Focus in on the classroom a little bit more.
This winter it will be good.
So as far as baseball is concerned I remember you were a catcher in high school and really
(19:38):
a great catcher and one of the few left handed catchers that I've ever seen compete at the
varsity level.
And then you went off to college.
Talk a little bit about that and what your college experience was like.
Yeah college baseball was a lot of fun.
I wound up pitching in college only.
(19:58):
You know I just pitched in college but college baseball taught me a lot about baseball, a
lot about you know how to you know take care of myself, how to be a man, how to show up
to things when I need to be there, how to you know take care of work and prioritize
(20:18):
those things.
Get done the things that I needed to get done.
You know we talk about it with our athletes.
I've heard it talked about with me from you know the time I was in the seventh grade all
the way through college about being a student athlete.
You know and we put that student first.
Right the first thing that we have to make sure we're getting done is the student part.
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Getting our school work done, taking care of our graduation requirements.
You know once we got to college it's getting the degree.
You know that's what you're there to do and being an athlete is the privilege that you
have on top of that and an opportunity that you get that you know for me was able to get
me through college was an opportunity for me to get to continue to play a game that
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I love so much but you know it teaches you to be able to manage your time, teaches you
to you know just be a man to do a job, to be able to go out and get your job done for
the good of a team on a baseball field and that carries over just so much into life.
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Yeah I think KU did a survey one time or several years ago and I read about this but all incoming
freshmen they interviewed them and said you know what did you learn most from when you
were a student?
Was it from academic classes or was it from extracurricular activities?
And 100% of the kids essentially said extracurricular activities and it's not just about the sport
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it's about leadership, it's about learning how to work with others, teamwork, overcoming
adversity, all those types of things that are important for you to be successful in
life and I know you hope to bring that same attitude to the kids you're coaching.
Absolutely, absolutely.
I think baseball specifically, I think baseball is the greatest game in the world.
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You know it's fun, it's better than other sports but there's so much of life to be learned
from the game of baseball.
You know I was just talking about it with kids in class today you know we do a little
attendance question at the start of class or whatever and so today it was you know if
you had to get rid of one sport, basketball, football or baseball, which would you get
rid of and so the kids kind of get a pick you know which one would you get rid of and
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you know lots of kids are going to say baseball, they think baseball is boring to watch or
whatever but I told a couple of kids no, baseball is the greatest game in the world.
You know it's a game, it's a team game but unlike some other team games it's one guy
against another guy, it's a pitcher against a hitter, you know kind of one on one you
(22:56):
got to do your job so that the next guy in the team is able to do his job you know and
the same thing can be said about so much of life.
You know if you're part of a team and an organization and a school or a business or whatever you
know every person has a role to play you know.
As the math teacher if I don't teach kids math in sixth grade they get to seventh grade
(23:20):
and they're not able you know to learn seventh grade math because their sixth grade math
teacher didn't do their job you know and so there's so much of that to be learned from
baseball it's a game of failure you know.
Guys that fail and the major leagues guys that fail seven out of ten times are the greatest
players of all time.
That's right.
You know it teaches you to fail that's how life is you know life's going to knock us
(23:43):
down but it's how we respond to that and that's something that I think baseball has done such
a great job of teaching me how to do.
Yeah absolutely I don't know if you know this or not but I used to be a baseball coach at
Bonner Springs High School and I remember one time I was at a sports convention and
(24:03):
I was an autograph collector when I was younger and I had the opportunity to meet Hank Stram
and Hank Stram is the former chiefs coach and I sat next to him my friend put on the
show and basically what happens is he would sell tickets it was at a mall and you could
buy an autograph a ticket to get Hank Stram's autograph.
(24:25):
Hank Stram was there Lynn Dawson and I believe Bobby Bell and so my friend said hey you can
work with whichever person you choose and so I chose Hank Stram.
So I sat next to Hank Stram and I said hey I'm a high school baseball coach how did you
motivate your players and Hank Stram gave me a speech to where I felt like I was in
(24:46):
the locker room and he said something along the lines of you know I used to come in the
locker room and tell them gentlemen when you were a little kid your parents were real proud
of you they bragged to all their friends my boys a football player when you got to middle
school and college everybody loved you because you were a football player but there's not
one football player in this room you're all young men lucky enough to have the opportunity
(25:10):
to play this game and we're going to do it the right way and so he went on and on and
I just remember you know going to baseball practice that next week and say hey guys when
you're a kid you played t-ball and I tried to reenact the speech and obviously I'm no
Hank Stram there's a reason he's a Hall of Famer but there is so many life lessons to
learn from sports and activities and so I'm glad you're coaching.
(25:33):
Real quick so what are you most proud of so far?
You've made it through your first quarter you're halfway through second quarter getting
ready to roll into mid-November what are you most proud of so far?
I think it's been those relationships that I've been able to build in the classroom on
the football field you know last Friday night after our last game you know I had you know
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guys were saying thank you whatever and you know I know a couple guys that were wrestling
and they're saying coach see if you can get in the wrestling room a little bit with us
you know and just that was that was really special you know just having guys that are
you know like we want to be around you more like you know they were they were grateful
for for the time that that I was able to put into them and so that was that was really
(26:26):
really special for me.
So Clayton what do you think about the new baseball and softball fields?
They're so nice I last year during my spring break I was I was back home visiting from
Oklahoma and that was when the open house was happening the the grand opening of the
new sports complex down here and so I got an opportunity to come up and see it for the
(26:50):
first time then right as it was getting finished and I just remember thinking like that is
it's so nice it's so pretty you know like I would have loved an opportunity to get to
play on these fields it looks really nice I'm really excited about it.
How do you think the new fields impact the kids who love baseball who plan on going out
(27:11):
for baseball thinking about going out for baseball along with our community?
Yeah I think it's it's really great it shows just the commitment and the level of care
that the district is willing to put in to our student athletes that the district's willing
to put into a baseball and a softball program and it looks really really nice you know I
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think it's really it's going to be much easier to get some excitement kind of built up around
those programs now just with with the facilities that we have that I haven't been everywhere
in the Frontier League since I was in school but I would be willing to say we got to have
just about the best facilities in the Frontier League you know the nicest field in the Frontier
(27:55):
League and so to kind of be able to get that excitement I think can grow from within the
student body out to the community hopefully get some people out to watch some baseball
games this spring.
Yeah it's funny because everywhere I go when I talk to former students the number one question
is why didn't you do that when we were in school and and so our students who are here
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now very lucky to have such a nice nice baseball softball field along with new tennis courts
state-of-the-art facilities for what I would consider the best kids in the state of Kansas.
All right Clayton before we wrap up I've got four final questions for you first thing
that comes to your mind.
All right let's do it.
(28:37):
All right number one what's your favorite school lunch your go-to?
Chicken Patty Wednesday.
All right number two what one piece of advice would you give to someone preparing to start
their first year in teaching?
Forgive yourself it's not going to be easy there's going to be days when you're overwhelmed
don't beat yourself up too much.
(29:00):
That's good.
What's something your students have taught you this year?
Oh that is a really good question that it's okay to struggle.
This new math curriculum that we've got it has been really really good it's been tough
for all of us we've been working through it you know but lots of it puts lots of you know
(29:28):
good struggle on students you know as they wrestle with these math concepts and so seeing
them do it has been been encouraging that that's that's a good thing and that's a that's
a thing that I think we can all work on I know certainly for me I can work on struggling
well.
All right last question we're going to look forward what's one thing you're excited about
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or hope to improve in your teaching practice?
Classroom management big big biggest thing for me I think just reining in those behaviors
you know I like to have fun we have a good time in math class but to not let it get out
of control is something that something that I can work on I think.
(30:16):
Yeah I think every first year teacher would probably say the exact same thing and I just
want to reiterate we're so lucky and so thankful that you decided to come back and make Bonner
Springs Eddersville the district that you chose to teach and best of luck as you navigate
through the rest of your first year.
Thank you thank you.
(30:37):
Hey Clayton as always it's a great day.
Be brave.
Welcome to Talk 204, the podcast where we engage with our community, celebrate our successes,
(00:13):
and build meaningful connections.
My name is Rick Mullen and I'm Superintendent of Bonner Springs-Edderville Unified School
District Number 204.
I'm excited to bring you this new platform for sharing the stories that matter most to
our school district.
I graduated from Bonner Springs High School in 1990.
(00:33):
This is my 29th year working in the district.
I started off as a high school English teacher, was a guidance counselor, high school assistant
principal, middle school principal, high school principal, assistant superintendent, and now
superintendent.
Today I'm thrilled to introduce our first guest, Clayton Kaufman.
(00:55):
Clayton is also a graduate of Bonner Springs High School, a few years later than me though,
in 2019.
Clayton is in his first year teaching at Clark Middle School.
We'll be talking with him about what inspired him to become a teacher and how his experience
as a student in our district has played a role in his journey.
Before we jump into that conversation, I want to highlight something truly special about
(01:20):
Bonner Springs-Edderville School District.
89 of our current employees are former students.
That means one in five of our staff members have come back to serve the community that
raised them.
To me, that speaks volumes about the dedication of our teachers and our support staff.
Our staff really do make a difference, and Clayton's story is a perfect example of that.
(01:46):
Let's dive into our conversation with Clayton.
We'll be talking about our shared love of baseball, Clayton's unique experience working
alongside his former teachers, and a pleasant surprise he discovered on Chicken Patty Wednesday.
It's going to be a fun and insightful conversation.
Let's get started.
(02:13):
Welcome to Talk204.
My name is Rick Mullen, your host.
Our first guest, Clayton Kaufman, Bonner Springs High School class of 2019, and first year
teacher at Clark Middle School teaching sixth grade math.
Clayton, welcome to the show.
Hey, thanks for having me, Mr. Mullen.
Glad to be here.
Hey, Clayton, I got to ask you, how does it feel to come back to teach in your former
(02:34):
school?
It's pretty cool.
It's been a really, really neat experience for me, getting to be back, getting to be
home.
There's a familiarity with it, even with all of the new things.
In a new role, seeing things kind of from the other side as a student, now as a teacher.
But it's home, and so that's been really nice to be home.
(02:58):
Yeah, well, we're glad to have you back.
And I remember calling you last spring when I found out you were teaching and asking you,
hey, have you ever thought about coming home?
So what made you decide to come back to Bonner Springs and teach at Clark Middle School?
You know, when you reached out, that was, I'd kind of been thinking about coming back
(03:19):
this way, you know, coming back to the Kansas City area, you know, growing up here.
I love Kansas City, my family is all in the area.
I had cousins moving back to the area around this same year, too.
And so, but being here and not being in Bonner Springs would have not made sense to me.
(03:42):
You know, this really is home, this community, this school district really helped to shape
me, helped to mold me, grown me into the man that I am today, you know.
And so to be able to give back to my community in that same way that it gave to me, I think
is really special and something that I was really looking forward to being able to do.
Well, that's great.
(04:03):
So as before mentioned, you're class of 2019.
At what point did you decide, I'm going to become a teacher?
And then talk a little bit about when you made that decision, what was the road to come
back home?
Because there were some stops in between.
Yeah, so it was probably spring my senior year when I decided I wanted to be a teacher,
(04:25):
you know, maybe fall around Christmas time.
But it was definitely my senior year for a long time from when I was a little, little
kid.
Up until then, I wanted to go into TV.
I wanted to call baseball games.
You know, that's what I wanted to do.
But through working with some kids at church and whatnot, I really found this love for
(04:50):
kids and working with young people.
And that's when I thought, you know, I need to do this.
This is what I'm supposed to do.
And so I thought about it and I thought the best way to do that is as a teacher.
And so then as I was getting ready for college, I knew there are a couple of things that I
(05:10):
wanted to do in college.
I wanted to get a teaching degree.
I wanted to go to a Christian school and I wanted to be able to play baseball.
And so I got the opportunity to do that at an NAIA school in northeast Oklahoma, Oklahoma
Wesleyan University.
So I went there to pursue a degree in education to get to play baseball.
(05:33):
And so I was able to do that throughout my college career.
And then as I was winding down, I got an opportunity last year to teach second grade in the school
where I did my student teaching there in northeast Oklahoma, which was a really, really neat
opportunity for me.
I was excited to get to do it, get to stay around where I went to school.
(05:56):
And so I was able to do that, but always with the goal long term of winding up back in this
area back in Bonner Springs.
And so I'm fortunate enough to be able to do that now.
Yeah, I think I had a similar experience.
You talked about working with kids at church and deciding, you know, I want to become a
teacher because I can help kids.
(06:16):
I remember when I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do.
And some of my best memories were number one, my teachers.
I had great teachers who had a tremendous impact and I wanted to be just like my teachers.
But I also remember I had a kid in class who at the time I didn't realize it, but had an
IEP and needed some additional support.
(06:37):
And the teacher would have me go in the hallway and work with the kid and help him learn because
he struggled with reading.
And I found that really meaningful for me.
The kid that I was working with benefited.
And then as I was deciding what to do, I thought, I want to be a teacher because I want to make
an impact.
Did you have a watershed moment like that as you were growing up?
(07:01):
Or what were the influencing factors when you were a student at Eddersville Elementary,
at Clark Middle School, and then at Bonner Springs High School that made you decide,
I need to teach?
I don't know if there was ever really one moment for me, but I look back and I look
at teachers that I had through the years.
(07:22):
And specifically, I look back at the men that I had in schools.
I think of people like Aaron Miller, guys like Jacob Beck, Brandon Job, Spencer Davidson,
you and just these guys that all throughout my life, all throughout my schooling were
(07:46):
there every day, were guys that I could show up and we could have a conversation about
the Royals.
I could talk to about the Chiefs game, whatever the deal was, that were just there for me
as men in my life, but then they were also there as teachers, as educators, helping me
(08:07):
in that journey.
But just as a whole person and seeing me as that and helping to lead me and shape me in
that way, it's those kinds of relationships I think that really helped push me to be the
teacher that I want to be and the educator that I want to be.
(08:29):
And I remember back when you were a student, and I don't remember if it was your junior
year or your sophomore year that we started doing the segment Mullen's Minute and you
and I had a weekly segment on TP Talk and that was a lot of fun.
So it's only fitting that the first episode of Talk 204 is with Clayton Kaufman who was
(08:51):
my Mullen Minute sidekick.
What do you remember about those experiences?
Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
You know, just coming up and it was lots of the time we'd show up and we'd be like, well
what do we want to do this week?
You know, we knew there were always a few things that we wanted to do each of the years
that we did that.
There were a couple of big things we wanted to hit around whatever time it was that we
(09:15):
were filming it.
You know, there were certain things that we wanted to talk about, but then we'd get kind
of into holes and just trying to figure out, well what are we going to do?
And then we'd come up with an idea and just like, well now we need to make this exciting
for people to want to watch it.
Just kind of those brainstorming sessions and then a lot of the time we went in with
(09:35):
half a plan and hit record and just saw what happened and I think it worked out most of
the time.
But that was a good time and it was a fun way to kind of get to do some kind of announcements
or hey we need to talk about this kind of things for the school, but we were able to
do it in a fun and unique way.
Yeah, and I don't know if you know this or not, but because as a student I only knew
(09:59):
from it as being the principal at Bonner Springs High School, but part of the goal of the whole
Mullins Minute was to try to teach students some life lessons.
So if you recall, we did a segment on the proper way to shake another person's hand.
How to get a prom date, those types of things, but really about being respectful and just
(10:20):
having fun with real life situations and things that hopefully help teenagers deal with situations
they were facing in life.
And another thing that I thought was really cool about that was that we had a principal
that I noticed this as a student, you know, was that you as the principal that we had
a principal who was willing to go out of his way to do a silly little thing like that to
(10:44):
invest in us and I think that that's just an excellent picture of what leadership is
and, you know, how to lead well and to serve those that you're leading, you know, and that
you would take the time out of your day because I know there's probably a thousand other things
you could have been doing, you know, in those 20 or 30 minutes or whatever it took us to
(11:08):
film and get that ready to go, but you would just take time to step out of what you were
doing to interact with students even in that small way.
Well, I'll tell you what, it was probably the highlight of my week every week was filming
with you and so that was part of the reason I was so excited to get you back because I
know that you're making a difference right now in the classroom and you genuinely care
(11:31):
about our kids.
You talked a little bit earlier about your experience as a student and some of the impact
that your teachers had on you.
How does your experiences as a student in USD 204 help you connect with your students
in your sixth grade class?
I think just like having been in their shoes, you know, and it's like I start to get kind
(11:53):
of some of the struggles or some of the things that they're feeling because I've been there,
you know, I've been here.
I know, you know, if it's whatever, you know, Tomahawk Trot, that's something that I was
able to tell kids, you know, this is something I got to do.
I was in the first time we ever called it the Tomahawk Trot.
I got a run in it, you know, and just kind of these little things, these little experiences
(12:16):
that I've got to share along the way and help me understand where they're at and the situation
that they're in.
I think just gives me, has helped to give me a better picture of who they are and hopefully
to invest better in them.
Yeah, so you're back at Clark Middle School and as previously mentioned, you graduated
(12:37):
from Bonner Springs High School in 2019.
You went to Clark Middle School.
You went to Eddersville Elementary since kindergarten and so you spent your entire educational life
in the Bonner Springs Eddersville School District.
Now you're back teaching.
Are you teaching with some of your, are some of your colleagues also some of your former
teachers when you were a student?
(12:58):
And if so, how's that going?
Yeah, it's been really neat.
I was like, Kyle Razak in the math department was my seventh grade math teacher.
Ann Decker was my eighth grade algebra teacher, you know, so those are just a couple that
are in my department that I work with every day, you know, and so it's neat now too because
(13:21):
I get to, I've already learned so much from them.
You know, they helped to shape me in my math and now I get to sit in, you know, meetings
with them every week and kind of listen to how they go about teaching and learn now about
teaching from them, which has been really neat and it's, I think it's something that's
(13:43):
been cool to me because I've seen how they are as a teacher.
I've seen how the effects that they have as teachers on students from the students perspective.
You know, I know that they are good at what they do and now getting to sit on the other
side of it with them and learn from them and talk with them has been, it's been really
(14:04):
cool.
Yeah, I've always said that the biggest compliment we get as a school district is when former
students want to come back and work for us and currently I think we have something like
88 former students who are now employees of the district and when I talk to our teachers
and our staff, you know, that's a testament to the work that they've done because they
build a culture where people want to come back and they want to be just like their teachers.
(14:26):
They want to make a difference.
Speaking of that, let's talk about lunch.
Yeah.
And you're in the lunch room every day now and I don't know how you feel but I remember
when I graduated from high school, one of the things I missed most about being a student
was the school lunches.
Oh yeah.
And I remember back in my day it was Crispedos and the hot ham and cheese roll ups and now
(14:52):
for the past 29 years I've enjoyed a chicken patty just about every Wednesday.
Absolutely.
Chicken patty Wednesday is my favorite day of the week.
Mr. Mullen, I get to sit down, I get to have me a chicken patty, you know, some mashed potatoes.
I was really excited.
I remember in high school when they introduced the spicy chicken patty to us and I was hoping
(15:12):
when I came back in the middle school they were going to have spicy chicken patty because
we didn't have it when I was in middle school.
Now I have a spicy chicken patty every Wednesday and it's the highlight of my week.
Hey, can I give you one tip?
Yes.
When you get that spicy chicken patty it always gets served with a roll.
Go ahead and open the roll up and use it as a bun and put that chicken patty right there
(15:33):
in between the roll and now you've got yourself a real treat.
There we go.
Put some mashed potatoes on there too.
That's good stuff.
That's what I'm talking about.
So I don't know if this has happened to you but my first year teaching of course I was
fresh out of college just like you are now and I remember going through the lunch line
(15:53):
and there were times where the cafeteria workers thought that I was still a student and so
when they went to charge me they gave me the student price instead of the adult price and
I tried to reason with them and say hey I'm a teacher because I was proud to be a teacher
but they kind of looked at me like are you sure?
Yeah.
Do you get that?
(16:13):
Only once or twice.
You were in the high school so I'm at the middle school so I do have a little bit of
an advantage there but I did I had to go hunt down my lunch code the first day of school.
I didn't know how to find it in Skyward so I went in and asked Miss Angie for my lunch
code and she looked it up for me and I remember it's the same lunch code I had when I was
(16:36):
a student so it was easy to learn.
Wow.
So they gave you the exact same lunch code.
And then I got on there I still had left over money that my mom had loaded up from when
I was in school so I got a couple of lunches for free.
I tell you what Clayton if you were as smart as I know you are you should call your mom
and tell her you're running low on your lunch account and see if she'll keep adding to it.
(16:58):
I should.
That'd be pretty good.
She might do that for me.
My guest is Clayton Kaufman class of 2019.
Clayton is obviously a graduate of Bonner Springs High School and now he's teaching
math at Clark Middle School in his first year.
Clayton you're also coaching.
I am.
(17:18):
Let's talk a little bit about that and how that's going.
Yeah so I got to coach football in the fall and I'll coach baseball in the spring.
Obviously football season with the record and what not didn't quite go as well as we
were hoping but it was a great experience.
I learned a lot this season.
(17:38):
I had never played football in my life.
I've watched a lot of football.
I remember being in weights class and listening to Coach Eaddy as he talked to the football
team.
So I could pick up things here or there but there was lots of learning done this season
about just the game of football, about coaching in general, about leadership, lots of good
(18:03):
things to learn.
I enjoyed that experience.
I'm excited for next football season and I'm really eager for baseball here in the spring.
I'm a baseball guy and so that's one thing.
I remember telling Coach Lecker when I was in high school my senior year, me and a couple
of my buddies, we said Coach you've only got four more years because we're coming back
(18:24):
and we'll do this after that.
So I'm glad to be back doing that too.
Yeah coaching is such a rewarding position, a rewarding job.
You get to work with kids, you get to make an impact on kids but it's also stressful
from time to time because like you said earlier the win-loss record didn't go the way you
had hoped this year and nobody puts more pressure on a coach than a coach puts on himself or
(18:48):
herself.
So you made it through the fall.
Now you've got a little bit of break for winter and you're gearing up for baseball season.
What's your plans for the winter?
Just relax, get home at a decent time.
You know probably going to play lots of college football in my spare time you know but yeah
(19:13):
I'm excited for a little bit of a break.
You know that coaching takes a toll, it's a little bit of a grind.
It's a good time.
I'm glad to be doing it but yeah a little break is definitely going to be nice.
Focus in on the classroom a little bit more.
This winter it will be good.
So as far as baseball is concerned I remember you were a catcher in high school and really
(19:38):
a great catcher and one of the few left handed catchers that I've ever seen compete at the
varsity level.
And then you went off to college.
Talk a little bit about that and what your college experience was like.
Yeah college baseball was a lot of fun.
I wound up pitching in college only.
(19:58):
You know I just pitched in college but college baseball taught me a lot about baseball, a
lot about you know how to you know take care of myself, how to be a man, how to show up
to things when I need to be there, how to you know take care of work and prioritize
(20:18):
those things.
Get done the things that I needed to get done.
You know we talk about it with our athletes.
I've heard it talked about with me from you know the time I was in the seventh grade all
the way through college about being a student athlete.
You know and we put that student first.
Right the first thing that we have to make sure we're getting done is the student part.
(20:40):
Getting our school work done, taking care of our graduation requirements.
You know once we got to college it's getting the degree.
You know that's what you're there to do and being an athlete is the privilege that you
have on top of that and an opportunity that you get that you know for me was able to get
me through college was an opportunity for me to get to continue to play a game that
(21:03):
I love so much but you know it teaches you to be able to manage your time, teaches you
to you know just be a man to do a job, to be able to go out and get your job done for
the good of a team on a baseball field and that carries over just so much into life.
(21:24):
Yeah I think KU did a survey one time or several years ago and I read about this but all incoming
freshmen they interviewed them and said you know what did you learn most from when you
were a student?
Was it from academic classes or was it from extracurricular activities?
And 100% of the kids essentially said extracurricular activities and it's not just about the sport
(21:50):
it's about leadership, it's about learning how to work with others, teamwork, overcoming
adversity, all those types of things that are important for you to be successful in
life and I know you hope to bring that same attitude to the kids you're coaching.
Absolutely, absolutely.
I think baseball specifically, I think baseball is the greatest game in the world.
(22:11):
You know it's fun, it's better than other sports but there's so much of life to be learned
from the game of baseball.
You know I was just talking about it with kids in class today you know we do a little
attendance question at the start of class or whatever and so today it was you know if
you had to get rid of one sport, basketball, football or baseball, which would you get
rid of and so the kids kind of get a pick you know which one would you get rid of and
(22:35):
you know lots of kids are going to say baseball, they think baseball is boring to watch or
whatever but I told a couple of kids no, baseball is the greatest game in the world.
You know it's a game, it's a team game but unlike some other team games it's one guy
against another guy, it's a pitcher against a hitter, you know kind of one on one you
(22:56):
got to do your job so that the next guy in the team is able to do his job you know and
the same thing can be said about so much of life.
You know if you're part of a team and an organization and a school or a business or whatever you
know every person has a role to play you know.
As the math teacher if I don't teach kids math in sixth grade they get to seventh grade
(23:20):
and they're not able you know to learn seventh grade math because their sixth grade math
teacher didn't do their job you know and so there's so much of that to be learned from
baseball it's a game of failure you know.
Guys that fail and the major leagues guys that fail seven out of ten times are the greatest
players of all time.
That's right.
You know it teaches you to fail that's how life is you know life's going to knock us
(23:43):
down but it's how we respond to that and that's something that I think baseball has done such
a great job of teaching me how to do.
Yeah absolutely I don't know if you know this or not but I used to be a baseball coach at
Bonner Springs High School and I remember one time I was at a sports convention and
(24:03):
I was an autograph collector when I was younger and I had the opportunity to meet Hank Stram
and Hank Stram is the former chiefs coach and I sat next to him my friend put on the
show and basically what happens is he would sell tickets it was at a mall and you could
buy an autograph a ticket to get Hank Stram's autograph.
(24:25):
Hank Stram was there Lynn Dawson and I believe Bobby Bell and so my friend said hey you can
work with whichever person you choose and so I chose Hank Stram.
So I sat next to Hank Stram and I said hey I'm a high school baseball coach how did you
motivate your players and Hank Stram gave me a speech to where I felt like I was in
(24:46):
the locker room and he said something along the lines of you know I used to come in the
locker room and tell them gentlemen when you were a little kid your parents were real proud
of you they bragged to all their friends my boys a football player when you got to middle
school and college everybody loved you because you were a football player but there's not
one football player in this room you're all young men lucky enough to have the opportunity
(25:10):
to play this game and we're going to do it the right way and so he went on and on and
I just remember you know going to baseball practice that next week and say hey guys when
you're a kid you played t-ball and I tried to reenact the speech and obviously I'm no
Hank Stram there's a reason he's a Hall of Famer but there is so many life lessons to
learn from sports and activities and so I'm glad you're coaching.
(25:33):
Real quick so what are you most proud of so far?
You've made it through your first quarter you're halfway through second quarter getting
ready to roll into mid-November what are you most proud of so far?
I think it's been those relationships that I've been able to build in the classroom on
the football field you know last Friday night after our last game you know I had you know
(25:59):
guys were saying thank you whatever and you know I know a couple guys that were wrestling
and they're saying coach see if you can get in the wrestling room a little bit with us
you know and just that was that was really special you know just having guys that are
you know like we want to be around you more like you know they were they were grateful
for for the time that that I was able to put into them and so that was that was really
(26:26):
really special for me.
So Clayton what do you think about the new baseball and softball fields?
They're so nice I last year during my spring break I was I was back home visiting from
Oklahoma and that was when the open house was happening the the grand opening of the
new sports complex down here and so I got an opportunity to come up and see it for the
(26:50):
first time then right as it was getting finished and I just remember thinking like that is
it's so nice it's so pretty you know like I would have loved an opportunity to get to
play on these fields it looks really nice I'm really excited about it.
How do you think the new fields impact the kids who love baseball who plan on going out
(27:11):
for baseball thinking about going out for baseball along with our community?
Yeah I think it's it's really great it shows just the commitment and the level of care
that the district is willing to put in to our student athletes that the district's willing
to put into a baseball and a softball program and it looks really really nice you know I
(27:33):
think it's really it's going to be much easier to get some excitement kind of built up around
those programs now just with with the facilities that we have that I haven't been everywhere
in the Frontier League since I was in school but I would be willing to say we got to have
just about the best facilities in the Frontier League you know the nicest field in the Frontier
(27:55):
League and so to kind of be able to get that excitement I think can grow from within the
student body out to the community hopefully get some people out to watch some baseball
games this spring.
Yeah it's funny because everywhere I go when I talk to former students the number one question
is why didn't you do that when we were in school and and so our students who are here
(28:17):
now very lucky to have such a nice nice baseball softball field along with new tennis courts
state-of-the-art facilities for what I would consider the best kids in the state of Kansas.
All right Clayton before we wrap up I've got four final questions for you first thing
that comes to your mind.
All right let's do it.
(28:37):
All right number one what's your favorite school lunch your go-to?
Chicken Patty Wednesday.
All right number two what one piece of advice would you give to someone preparing to start
their first year in teaching?
Forgive yourself it's not going to be easy there's going to be days when you're overwhelmed
don't beat yourself up too much.
(29:00):
That's good.
What's something your students have taught you this year?
Oh that is a really good question that it's okay to struggle.
This new math curriculum that we've got it has been really really good it's been tough
for all of us we've been working through it you know but lots of it puts lots of you know
(29:28):
good struggle on students you know as they wrestle with these math concepts and so seeing
them do it has been been encouraging that that's that's a good thing and that's a that's
a thing that I think we can all work on I know certainly for me I can work on struggling
well.
All right last question we're going to look forward what's one thing you're excited about
(29:49):
or hope to improve in your teaching practice?
Classroom management big big biggest thing for me I think just reining in those behaviors
you know I like to have fun we have a good time in math class but to not let it get out
of control is something that something that I can work on I think.
(30:16):
Yeah I think every first year teacher would probably say the exact same thing and I just
want to reiterate we're so lucky and so thankful that you decided to come back and make Bonner
Springs Eddersville the district that you chose to teach and best of luck as you navigate
through the rest of your first year.
Thank you thank you.
(30:37):
Hey Clayton as always it's a great day.
Be brave.
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