After 25 years as a principal and nearly 40 years total in education, Mike King can’t seem to get away from the classroom.

The Porters Chapel Academy teacher said he left the field once, only to return again nine years ago to his current post.

“I started teaching again when I came here nine years ago,” he said. “I retired from public schools and retired to Eagle Lake where I thought I was going to fish and hunt and wound up here.”

King said he decided to go into education because he saw first-hand how important the field is.

“Coming from a family that my mom nor my father neither one had a high school education, I saw the need and the importance of an education,” he said. “I saw a need for a lot of young people like myself who needed education. I decided to see to it that they got one. I put myself in a position as a principal to ensure that young people had an opportunity to get an education.”

King said he’s had a very rewarding career, one he has enjoyed.

“I’m rich, not in money, but in the memories and things I have encompassed over my career,” he said. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do. I want to be here. I actually have fun.”

King said teaching in a private school is easier than his previous job.

“The parents are very good, and the students are very, very respectful,” he said. “I like the fact that these people are paying for their children to get an education, and they want them to get the best they can get. I’m going to do my part to give them the best that I can give them.”

King said he enjoys teaching in a Christian environment.

“Any time that the moment arises that we want to stop and talk about something, we can,” he said. “We shut it down.”

King said an added perk of his job is working with his wife, Tommie. The couple swap the fifth- and sixth-grade classes every day.

“She teaches the language, reading and spelling, and I teach the math, history and science to them,” he said. “We swap at lunch every day.”

Taking classes with Mr. and Mrs. King is beneficial to the students too, King said.

“It helps that we know different concerns and issues that a student may have and we’re able to share those between the two of us,” he said. “We have the same parents, so it’s easier to communicate with them.”

King said being married to a co-worker means the job doesn’t end when the last bell rings.

“I think it’s an added advantage to us to have the same students,” he said. “It’s our lives and it always has been, so we carry our work home with us and talk about it over the weekends, the good and the bad.”