![\"Margaret](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DSCN7836.jpg\")
<\/a>She came to the school in 1970, and as director she\u2019d do everything from managing the vision and mission of the nursery school and ensuring the quality of the curriculum, to performing such chores as mopping floors and unclogging toilets. Once she even had to use a garbage can to remove a pesky snake from its premises. In other words, Huffman, whose last day on the job was November 27, gave her all to run the school, from top to bottom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is probably one of the best schools around,\u201d she said with pride. \u201cBeverly Jensen [who is taking over as the school\u2019s director] and I have been running it like a mom and pop shop. I\u2019ve got six parents, whose children come here now, that I took care of as children when they were here. I had a couple that met in my two-year-old class, married and brought their two kids back to us. That is what\u2019s good about this place. They come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another key to Huffman\u2019s success has been the consistency among the staff. Largely due to her leadership style, much of the staff, like Huffman, have an extensive history with the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cBev\u2019s been here 40 years, almost as long as me,\u201d Huffman explained. \u201cKathy Browne, our pre-K teacher has been here since 1987. A lot of the other teachers have been here 20, 25 years, and that\u2019s not unusual. They stay here because they like me, and I\u2019m not patting myself on the back. Overall, I\u2019m an easy boss. I treat people like I want to be treated. Maybe sometimes I\u2019m a little too easy, but the reputation and how long I\u2019ve been here has to say something.\u201d<\/p>\n
It certainly does. Parents and children alike revere the Fleur de Lis Nursery School. Not only do the children grow up and often end up enrolling their own children in the school, but some also have been compelled to write about their love for the school on their college application essays. One described it as a place “where I first learned to imagine, [and] where I cultivated my childlike curiosity.”<\/p>\n
These days, a reputation can be made or lost on Yelp or Google. Happily for Huffman and the school, comments from parents have been overwhelmingly positive:<\/p>\n
” [Margaret Huffman] has been there for an eternity and is a virtual Margaret Thatcher in leadership, knowledge and strength but with a bit more personality! She is an inspiration to everyone around her.”<\/p>\n
“Both of our girls have thrived in no small part due to the enriching, loving and idyllic experiences they had each day at FDL.”<\/p>\n
Born in 1939, Huffman hails from England. Her own childhood was spent in the shadows of World War II, a life that consisted of playing in bomb shelters, air raids and food rationing. She ended up in San Diego by way of Canada and soon found employment as a teacher’s aide at Fleur de Lis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hired because the director at the time, Patricia Nelson, liked British people,\u201d Huffman recalled. \u201cShe thought we were good at cleaning potbelly stoves. We could teach the kids and do the dirty work, too. I\u2019d get down and dirty sweeping the floors and I\u2019m still doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huffman\u2019s been described as quite a character by those who know her well, no doubt because of her easy-going nature coupled with her wicked sense of humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a strange personality,\u201d she admitted. \u201cI\u2019ve got a different sense of humor than most Americans have. Some of us are too outspoken, and I\u2019ve gotten myself in trouble for it. One dad, he\u2019d come in shorts most of the time. One day he comes in pants and I say, \u2018I\u2019m not used to seeing him with his pants on.\u2019 They take it the wrong way, but I mean well. Those are the things that get me in trouble. It\u2019s innocent trouble, but if you don\u2019t have that sense of humor sometimes it can get a little borderline. Someone called me a little Mary Poppins. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s a compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n
With one day left on the job, Huffman appears misty eyed as she shares plans for the next phase of her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, I\u2019m going to go home and cry,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m going to miss the people here, but it\u2019s time. Things are changing. My husband has been retired for a long time so we\u2019re going to travel. I\u2019m 74 and it\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s one more thing she\u2019d like to do in retirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to come back and volunteer,\u201d Huffman stated, adding in a conspiratorial whisper, \u201cIf they\u2019ll let me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowing how much she\u2019s accomplished for the school and how well loved she is by the Fleur de Lis families and staff, and knowing the legacy of excellence she leaves behind, one can’t help but think they\u2019ll welcome her back with open arms.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Monica Medina | SDUN Reporter Most mornings you\u2019d find Margaret Huffman directing traffic along an unassuming alleyway in Hillcrest.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":751,"featured_media":246784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Margaret Huffman bids farewell to Fleur de Lis","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/751"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}