Students walking the halls of Garwood Elementary in Rathdrum pass Mrs. DeVore’s noisy kindergarten room — then, a few doors down, do a double take. It’s Ms. DeVore’s room again.
But this time, the energetic, often overall-clad first grade teacher looks a bit younger.
The DeVores are a mother-daughter duo, living out a yearslong dream of teaching together.
Jodie DeVore, 54, grew up in Rathdrum with an educator for a dad. Her father, Ron Schmidt, was the principal at her junior high school before becoming the Lakeland School District assistant superintendent.
“I think it’s just in your blood,” Jodie said of teaching.
She received her teaching degree from the University of Idaho before moving to Nebraska, where her husband attended dental school. While there, she taught preschool.
When the couple returned to Rathdrum, Jodie taught second grade at her alma mater, Betty Kiefer Elementary.
She gave birth to the first of her three daughters. Keely, now 23, is the youngest of the trio. Jodie took a break from teaching to raise her girls.
In 2009, a former co-worker asked if Jodie was ready to come back to the classroom, hoping she would replace Garwood’s retiring kindergarten teacher.
“I was like hell no, I’m not a kindergarten teacher,” Jodie said with a chuckle.
But she took the job anyway.
“I thought ‘OK, well I’ll just try it for a couple years, whatever,’” Jodie recalls. “I’m like 16 or 17 years in kindergarten. It’s my grade.”
Jodie loves the “feralness” of her young students. She likes figuring out each child, what makes them tick, what their needs are.
Keely attended Betty Kiefer Elementary, like her mother. In middle school, the idea of being a teacher crossed her mind.
She grew up watching her mother teach and loved volunteering in her classroom. By her sophomore year of high school, Keely job shadowed at elementary schools across the district during her free period.
“It was just watching my mom and seeing how she gave back to her kids,” Keely said.
When Keely told her mother she wanted to follow in her footsteps, it felt “pretty awesome,” Jodie said, tearing up as she recalled the moment.
“It’s probably the same way I look up to my dad,” Jodie said, moving Keely to tears.
Her father taught older students, and while he supported Jodie and gave her advice, teaching “littles,” as Jodie calls her students, provides another level of closeness with her daughter.
“We speak the language,” Jodie said.
Despite the joy of her daughter wanting to teach, Jodie warned that being an educator isn’t easy. She wanted to make sure Keely knew what she was getting into.
“You’re not going to make enough money, there’s going to be some parents, there’s going to be this and that,” Jodie told her daughter.
But Keely wasn’t deterred. She graduated from Lakeland High in 2020 and took her mother’s advice to enroll at Lewis-Clark State College. Teachers from LCSC are always the best-prepared, Jodie believes.
Keely student taught kindergarten at Garwood, hoping it would be her forever grade, just like her mother.
Keely finished student teaching last fall but took over a first-grade class midyear as a long-term substitute. She returned this fall to teach first grade for a full year.
The longer she teaches, the more Keely realizes her teaching philosophy comes from her mother.
“So my biggest goal, and I’ve seen her do it growing up, is showing them the love in my room, because I don’t know if they’re going to get it outside of my classroom,” Keely said.
Her mom jumped in.
“No matter what’s going on in the outside world, they know that when they walk inside our classrooms that they will get love, support,” Jodie said. “All that stuff comes before learning.”
Keely DeVore, 23 
Years teaching: 1
Grades taught: First
Why did you become a teacher? Watching my mom and seeing how she gave back to her kids and would love her kids. And then just watching the lightbulb moment with students.
What’s your favorite thing to teach? Math, addition and subtraction — it’s like puzzles at this age.
What would you tell other teachers heading into their first year? There are going to be a bunch of hard days, and you’re going to have a lot of struggles, and you’re going to question yourself. But you can do it — you just have to keep going.
Jodie DeVore, 54
Years teaching: 18
Grades taught: Pre-K, Second and Kindergarten
What made you want to become a teacher? I think just seeing my dad. Dad was just impactful on relationships. Just seeing him interact with all the kids.
What’s your favorite thing to teach? I didn’t want to be responsible for teaching reading, and I’m now teaching reading … when they write their very first sentence all by themselves.
What advice would you give to parents as they send their kindergarteners to school? Just sit down and talk with your kids and sit down and talk with your teacher. We are a team.
Teacher Feature highlights the diversity, expertise and ingenuity of educators across the state. Submit your suggestions for a teacher to feature to Emma Epperly at emma@idahoednews.org.
