Meet the Palans: twin sons take on ‘family business’ of education

For the Palans, education is not just a career choice; it’s more like the family business.

John and Lee Ellen Palan, who celebrated their 31st anniversary this week, are longtime area educators who passed the teaching torch to their twin sons, Daniel and David.

John is superintendent of Grant Park School District, and Lee Ellen is a teacher and reading specialist at Grant Park Elementary School.

Though they are not identical twins, Daniel and David could fool almost anyone into thinking they are.

Not only is the physical resemblance strong, but the brothers have also followed closely aligned career paths.

Daniel and David are both in their second year of teaching physical education, with Daniel working at Beecher Junior High School and David at Chebanse Elementary. Like their parents, the brothers have gotten involved in coaching as well.

They both graduated from Grant Park High School in 2019 and Olivet Nazarene University in 2023.

“When they decided they wanted to go into teaching, when they got their degrees and got their first jobs, we always joked around, ‘Welcome to the family business,’” John said. “Because that’s what we do.”

CLOSE-KNIT FAMILY

Lee Ellen first taught in Herscher, then stayed home with the kids when they were little. She started teaching in Grant Park when the kids entered school.

In addition to the twins, the Palans also have a daughter, Elle, who has a wedding photography business.

John was previously superintendent for St. Anne schools, then accepted the job in Grant Park in 2011.

Although he loved the St. Anne community, he felt he was missing out on being with his own children.

“Lee Ellen already worked here. There was an opening, and it worked out our way, so I was able to be a dad and a superintendent all at the same time for all those years,” John said. “I wouldn’t give that up for anything.”

John’s and Lee Ellen’s parents worked together and introduced them while they were in college.

Eventually, John got a job in St. Anne, where Lee Ellen was student teaching.

“We were already engaged,” Lee Ellen recalled. “So it was ironic that we ended up working together.”

The family story seems to be repeating itself now, as Daniel recently got engaged to his fiance, Hadleigh, who completed her student teaching in Beecher.

In July, David got married to his wife, Dana, a registered nurse with Riverside Healthcare.

“I think it’s fair to say that our family has definitely been the center focus of our life all the way through,” John said. “The profession is wonderful, but what I’m most proud about is how close-knit our family is.”

DECIDING TO BE TEACHERS

Grant Park School District has an informal program where high school juniors and seniors can work with elementary students.

Daniel and David participated in the program, which helped them to realize their passion for working with kids.

David would bring students who needed some extra attention into the gym to play games, run around and have fun.

David also helped supervise school dismissal a few times a week and would talk with students as they waited for the bus. He soon realized his presence was something the younger kids looked forward to.

“That was kind of the first brick for the wall of me teaching in elementary school,” David said.

Daniel was undecided for a bit longer than his brother, but his parents’ influence played a big role in his decision to be a teacher.

“My parents might not agree, but each year I would see the impact they were making on kids, all the positive things people had to say about them,” Daniel said. “Since they were able to do it, I figured I could give it a run and then make the same impact that they do every day.”

In addition to the example set by Mom and Dad, the Palan brothers also looked up to many of their professors at ONU.

“When someone loves teaching, they make others really wanna do it,” Lee Ellen added. “When you’re passionate about it, it’s contagious I think.”

John and Lee Ellen are often asked if they tried talking their boys out of pursuing the field of education.

“This is a great profession,” John said. “You have an opportunity to work with kids. It’s very rewarding, so we did the opposite. We said no, we need good educators, good young educators coming into the field.”

BROTHERLY BONDS

Though they are clearly two of a kind, one thing that distinguishes the brothers from each other is that David is more talkative than Daniel.

David’s high energy and outgoing personality are hard to miss.

On the first day of school this year, David welcomed students outside the front doors of Chebanse Elementary while bouncing on a pogo stick.

“That’s another message I’m trying to preach as a PE teacher — being active is a lifetime thing,” he noted. “If you start at a young age, you can keep moving and stay healthy for life.”

David also planned this past week, before students were to be released for holiday break, to dress in an “elf on the shelf” costume and greet them from the roof of the school.

One of his main objectives every day is to make kids smile.

When a student returns the favor, he hands them a ticket that says, “Thanks for making me smile.”

“They might not remember some of the things that we do, or they may not remember how to skip as a first grader, but they will probably remember how we make them feel,” David said.

Though more on the quiet side than his brother, Daniel takes the role of making a difference in kids’ lives just as seriously.

Working with older students, Daniel said it is important for him to set a good example.

It can also be more of a challenge to keep older kids motivated and excited for gym class, he noted.

“Seeing the kids happy, making it fun for them, giving them positive things to do, then being that role model they can go to if they have a problem or a question, that’s what we’re here for,” Daniel said.

THE FAMILY BUSINESS

Like typical siblings, the twins fought when they were kids, but they have only grown closer in adulthood.

“This has been like a dream come true,” David said. “Because we’ve been close our entire life. Now, I can call Daniel up if I’ve got a question in regards to teaching, and he calls me.”

As John and Lee Ellen are nearing the end of their careers, their sons are at the very beginning.

“We feel that the field is in good hands, and not just with these two, but with a lot of the younger teachers coming through,” John said.

Being in a profession that others try to warn young people to stay away from, he finds it to be a refreshing thought.

“For us, I think we see our fingerprints on how these two interact with kids and how they interact with people,” John said. “And that makes me very proud and appreciative of what we do for a living.”

https://daily-journal.com/news/meet-the-palans-twin-sons-take-on-family-business-of-education/article_33e1f6cc-be40-11ef-a350-6791847ed44a.html