As the 2016-2017 school year winds to a close, preparations have been made to make some staffing changes for the next school year. These changes will affect students and teachers in all three buildings within the district.
Mrs. Valerie Marburger, who is currently the Practical Applications teacher in the high school, will be one of the teachers affected by these changes. She will be moving down to the elementary school next year in an effort to expose the younger kids to technology at an earlier age. She is not the only teacher that will be leaving the high school, Mrs. Yvonne Abakah is resigning from her position to seek a job elsewhere. Abakah worked as a Special Education aide this year.
Three of our other high school teachers will remain in the building, but within slightly adjusted capacities. Mrs. Jessika Fontaine will be taking on a Life Skills teaching position as we implement this new program within FHS. Fontaine served as a Special Education teacher during this school year.
Mr. Tom Hickey will be taking a small step back from some of his responsibilities as the technology coach, so that he will be able to teach Secondary Computer Apps, which is the class that Marburger teaches currently. Hickey’s classroom will be a new computer lab, and will focus on the Adobe suite. Adobe suite includes programs like Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator to name a few. The new computer lab will also be the home to the new CAD program taught by Mrs. Amanda Bovard.
Mr. George Miklas will be giving up his wood shop duties entirely starting next year, so that he can go back to teaching Special Education full time. This change comes because more time was needed to be spent on Special Education.
FHS will also welcome two familiar faces to the high school next year due to these rearrangements. Mr. Dave Badamo will be teaching two sections of woodworking in the high school next year, while he also continues to teach Tech Ed at the middle school. Mrs. Lisa Liptak will also be coming to the high school to teach Special Education. Liptak’s move is necessary to fill the vacancy that will be left by Fontaine.
All in all while there is quite a bit of rearrangement with the teacher’s positions, not many alterations have been made to the classes themselves.