Classroom swaps present challenges for teachers

As the new school year started, observant students at Clayton Valley may have noticed that many teachers have moved to different rooms. Even some teachers who remained in the same room for many years were asked to move, and it was not by their own accord.

While the idea of moving to a new and improved room may seem like a promising and beneficial opportunity, it has also provided some challenges.

English teacher Misha Holz, who moved from room F12 to B7, was asked for her initial reaction to switching classrooms. 

“I was just really sad, like, I really like my old room,” Holz said. “Y’know, I like being in an open space because the F hall isn't closed, and I had a nice view of the field, but it was just really nice to be able to open my door and just have fresh air and stuff like that. So I definitely miss that, and my old room was actually bigger.”

The reason behind moving so many teachers was simple: the administration here at Clayton Valley was hoping to group all subjects together. 

English teacher Misha Holz writes down a lesson plan in her new classroom in the B wing. (Photo by Milo Pellegrino of the Talon staff)

When asked why this change was being made, CVCHS chief operations officer Alison Sparks replied: 

“Well, we knew we wanted to remodel the science classrooms and we knew we needed more science classrooms than we currently have. So, that meant in order to create science rooms we needed the ‘A’ wing because those rooms were bigger and they have water. So those teachers were gonna have to move. So then (director of curriculum) Mrs. (Kathleen) Coakley took the opportunity to say, ‘Well hey, wouldn't it make more sense to have all the departments be together as best as they can be?’” 

However, even the main goal of grouping teachers wasn't entirely successful. Holz was moved to B hall, but the majority of English teachers were moved to C hall in an effort to keep it mainly oriented towards English classes. Even Sparks partially agreed: "There's a few outliers …”

“English is such a big department,” Holz said. “It can't just all be in one hall, so the majority of English teachers are in C hall but then there's three of us here in B hall. It’s really funny because there's still (an English teacher) in my old room, so technically I didn't even have to move at all. I feel like… y’know, they tried but it’s still not all the way there.”

Additionally, having all the teachers personally move their classes affected their time off during the summer. 

“It took so much longer to set up a new classroom than anticipated,” said English teacher Abbey Justice. “Like it took me seven full days to set up this new classroom. It was just a lot of work, but I was fortunate enough that this classroom was being worked on. But there were teachers who didn't get into their classrooms until the day before school started.”

In the end, many teachers did ultimately merge locations with other teachers of the same subject, but it definitely did not come without its caveats and hindrances to the teachers themselves. Some might not be able to help but wonder, was all the moving worth it?