This year, thirteen teachers entered the classroom on this campus for the first time in their West High career. They will teach many different subjects to hundreds of new students.
However, some of the old students may not recognize them as they are used to the older teachers and miss the ones that left. Today, we will get to know these teachers and what they educate students on.
One of the big winners of getting new teachers are the Special Education kids or co-teachers for other classes. Out of the thirteen newcomers, five of them teach Special Ed students. The teachers they gained are science and math teachers Mrs. Baranowitz and Mr. Heinrich, english and history (including government) teacher Ms. McCuen, english teacher Mr. Meador, and math teacher Ms. Nhalil.
This is needed as there is a massive shortage of them across the country. According to data collected by Education Next, eighty percent of schools in the U.S reported that they were short on Special Education teachers.
I scored an interview with government and english co-teacher Ms. McCuen. McCuen is also the advisor of the 2027 Homecoming class. She has taught for eight years and has been a para-teacher for four years. Before moving to California, she lived in Iowa with her eleven-year-old daughter. McCuen said “She [her daughter] really likes it here. The weather is a lot nicer than in Iowa.” If you need to reach out to her for any reason, her office hours are from 7:30 to 8:00 in the morning on Thursdays.
Outside of Special Education classes, eight other teachers were added to fill in empty positions. The following are those who were added to the roster:
· Ms. Calderon (Science)
· Mr. Castro (Choir and Piano)
· Mr. Gatrell (P.E)
· Ms. Jones (English)
· Ms. Nelson (Agriculture)
· Ms. Ortega (Spanish)
· Ms. Shivkumar (Math)
· Mr. Wesley (Science)
As you can see, many important subjects received a new teacher, with science getting two. This allows for less crowded classes and more advanced courses for students wanting to take them.
I was able to interview Spanish 1 and 2 teacher Ms. Ortega. Ms. Ortega is also the co-advisor of the Asian-Pacific Islander (API) Club. This is her first full year of teaching after being a permanent substitute teacher for U.S history and sociology teacher Mrs. Jones. One notable thing about Ortega is that she has attended West High as a student in the graduating class of 2018. Ortega explained why she chose to teach Spanish. Ortega said, “I felt like I was inspired to do Spanish because I just loved the Spanish classes here.” When asked if she had anything else to add, she said, “I hope everybody feels like they’re welcome in my classroom and they are able to come to me if they need assistance.” If you need to reach out to her, she is available Thursdays after school from 3:40 to 4:00.
With these thirteen new teachers on campus, subjects ranging from english to math are getting a new educator that will befriend those in their new circle. Special Education students will have many new teachers to get to know, and older students will get to know the new teachers on campus. I will end things off with a compliment made by Ms. McCuen about our campus. “I really like how your campus is set up. I like that you walk outside. I’m used to being in one building all day with hallways and never see the outdoors until after school.”
