There’s something about Davis Parent Nursery School that keeps bringing them back.

Take teacher Jackie Radin. In the early 1970s, not long after moving to Davis from her native France, Radin enrolled her young son at DPNS. That meant, of course, that Radin herself was enrolled there as well, since the school requires parents and caregivers to regularly work in the classroom, as well as to take parent education classes.

Those two years at DPNS would end up sparking in Radin a desire to teach — a desire that would take her to UC Davis, where she would receive her bachelor’s degree and teaching credential, and on to a 30-year career teaching kindergarten through sixth grade, as well as special education.

Ultimately, after three decades, it would bring her back to where she started: DPNS, where she has been a director for the past nine years, teaching both the tw0-day and three-day morning sessions.

“It’s where it all began,” she says now. “It got me into teaching because it’s where I learned I wanted to be around children.”

It also didn’t hurt that back in the ’70s she was working with an exceptional role model and inspiration: DPNS founder and longtime director Nora Sterling.

“I remember thinking, ‘If I can do for other parents just (a fraction) of what Nora Sterling has done for me, that would be a lot,’ ” Radin says.

Now, all these years later, there are plenty of parents who say she has.

“Not every educator is cut out to be a preschool teacher and someone who can lead and educate adults,” notes DPNS board president Maria Clayton. “Jackie Radin is an exceptional woman who has brightened and shaped the lives of so (many) kids and families over the nine years she has been teaching at our school.

“I am lucky to have had four years in Teacher Jackie’s classes, with two daughters going through DPNS. She is gift to us and we will miss her dearly.”

They will miss her because Radin has decided it’s time to retire. Not necessarily because she wants to, but because, she says, “my body can’t do this any more.”

Arthritis has made the job difficult, she said, “and I can’t do it the way I want to any more. My heart still wants to, though.”

Radin will be honored at the annual DPNS Rocks! concert and picnic from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 18. All alumni families are encouraged to join current families for the event, which takes place at the school’s campus at 426 W. Eighth St.

For Radin, the leaving isn’t easy.

“I’ve cried a lot,” she concedes. “It’s emotional.”

“You don’t take this job for the money — you take it because it’s what you really want to do.”

And doing it at DPNS, she says, “has been magical.”

“It’s being part of a community that really supports each other,” she says. “Over the years, we’ve had many happy events, like births and promotions. And we’ve had very sad events, deaths and illnesses. And the community rallies around each other. I’ve really enjoyed being a part of that.”

For children, she adds, growing up in such a community is profoundly important.

“Having so many parents around,” she said, “it’s the ultimate village. And they see adults as people who respect and value them.”

And then there is the philosophy of DPNS itself — that preschool should be play-based — which made the school a pleasure to be a part of, Radin said.

She chuckles as she tells the story of one young student who informed her mother that “women don’t work.”

When her mom reminded the little girl that “Teacher Jackie works,” her daughter responded, “No, Teacher Jackie doesn’t work. She plays.”

“It’s true,” Radin says, laughing.

So she will miss that, but she looks forward to spending more time with her family — her husband, son and three grandsons.

She also plans to become an advocate for children with disabilities — one of her grandsons has cerebral palsy — and food allergies — another grandson suffers from those.

She also looks forward to traveling with her husband, gardening and so much more.

“I have a lot of books on my bookshelves waiting to be read, too,” she says. “People ask me if I’m going to be bored, and I say, ‘No!’ ”

That said, she’s also already signed on to serve as a substitute teacher at DPNS when needed.

The program has a way of bringing them back time and again.

— Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at [email protected] or (530) 747-8051. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy

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Madeleine Loge takes a break from looking at crickets with a magnifying glass and takes a closer look at teacher Jackie Radin. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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Teacher Jackie Radin and Rowan Reising play with farm animals on Monday at Davis Parent Nursery School. Radin will be retiring this spring. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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Teacher Jackie Radin, spends time with students at Davis Parent Nursery School, in the last few weeks before her retirement. From left are Alison Bolz, Maddie Doherty and Rowan Reising. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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Davis Parent Nursery School teacher Jackie Radin, who will be retiring this spring, helps her class count candles on a felt board cake with birthday boy Roman DeWeese on Monday. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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