Valentine’s Day is coming up, which means love is in the air. When thinking about Valentine’s Day, many are inclined to think about their own relationship status or the reasons why they love/hate the holiday. However, the season should also be used to celebrate existing love and at DSHS there are many love stories that not many students or staff know about.
Jessica and Scott Dean are two math teachers here who have been married for 35 years. They met in 1989 while teaching math at Dripping Springs Middle School, and got married the next year. The story of how their principal was their matchmaker and how they got together is something that many will find endearing.
“So we needed a new sixth grade math teacher [at DSMS],” Scott Dean said. “The principal was my buddy, so I went into his office one day and he said ‘who should we hire as a sixth grade math teacher?’ I said ‘I don’t know, just hire the best looking woman that applies.’ Then I came back at the end of the summer, went into his office and asked him if he hired anybody. He said ‘I think I hired your future wife. I made you her mentor and put her [room] next to yours.’”
In this case, the saying “when you know you know” was a sentiment that they both felt. Ever since they met, all signs led to the couple ending up together. Jessica Dean described how she felt the stars were aligning for their relationship.
“There were all of these signs,” Jessica Dean said. “His middle name is my maiden name (Allen) and we have the same major and minor. Our majors are math and our minors are psychology which is an interesting combination, they don’t always go together. And then we lived in the same apartment complex.”
Because they lived in the same apartment complex, they started carpooling to work together. This became complicated because their relationship was still a secret to everyone at their school, especially the students.
“We started carpooling and Jessica liked to sit next to me on the way to school,” Scott Dean said. “I had a pick up truck, but I coached girls basketball and [the relationship] was a secret, so nobody knew we were dating. I didn’t like her sitting next to me in case one of the girls saw us, so I always made her scoot over and it made her mad.”
After they got married that summer, the pair ended up always working at the same school, even when they went international. They enjoy that they have the same schedule and know the same people, but they also cherish a more unique part of working so closely.
“Scott has a really good reputation as being a great math teacher,” Jessica Dean said. “It’s nice to be able to hear that and watch him in person, and to see his students write nice notes. It makes me proud to get to be at the same school because he’s so good at his job.”
Working at the same school allows them to see each other a lot more than the average couple. Other than teaching their classes, the couple does almost everything together.
“We spend a lot of time together, a whole lot,” Jessica Dean said. “We [go to] sleep together, we work out together in the morning, we go to school together, we hang out in [Scott Dean’s classroom] in the morning before school, we eat lunch together every day, we drive home together and we have dinner together.”
Their schedule is not the only thing they share. The Deans have matching tattoos on their wrists representing their relationship in and outside of school.
“We actually have a matching math tattoo,” Scott Dean said. “101 is base two for the number five and it represents the five words we say to each other all the time. Like, thank you for loving me and thank you for choosing me.”
When you’ve been married for as long as the Deans have, you learn a thing or two about managing healthy and loving relationships. They shared some advice that can help students with their current and future relationships.
“I think one thing [that’s important in a relationship] is allowing each other to change because that’s part of being a human, it’s an evolution,” Jessica Dean said. “And you can’t be with someone that always expects you to be the same way today, the same way five years from now and the same way ten years from now. Scott and I are similar people and our values and priorities are the same, but our ideas about things have certainly changed. You have to be ready to allow for growth in the other person, celebrate that and know that it will also happen for you.”