There are now officially 24 Sobrato High School teaching staff
members.
There are now officially 24 Sobrato High School teaching staff members.
“These are folks who have stepped out a little bit on the edge, stepped out and stepped up to build a culture and a climate at Sobrato,” said Superintendent Carolyn McKennan. “I am in envy of them and the opportunity they have.
“This is an awesome group of teachers representative of the awesome teachers across our district … I really envy all of them, and the kids and the principal. What an exciting time for them.”
The $80 million high school, located on Burnett Avenue, is scheduled to open in August for ninth and 10th grade students with two classroom buildings and the administration building completed, followed in a few months, possibly November, by the completion of the gym, the library, the auditorium and other classroom buildings. The students should have the use of at least some of the athletic fields by the time school begins, Sobrato Principal Rich Knapp said.
The recent rains did not delay the construction, he said, for the three buildings. Phase 2, which includes the gym, library and auditorium, is approximately nine days behind due to the type of work – such as pouring concrete in the gym – that needed to take place during the rains.
The school will add 11th grade in 2005 and 12th grade in 2006. The first class to graduate will be the Class of 2007.
During registration in December, more than 700 students signed up for Sobrato. Another 22 students from Live Oak High could be added, as a result of choice placement. The option to transfer to a school other than a student’s home school, if there is space available, is extended to students from Jan. 8 until Jan. 31. Approximately 80 students in the Sobrato boundary requested to be transferred to Live Oak.
Three teachers that will be transferring from Britton, Tracy Murphy, Fawn Myers and Theresa Sage, said they are happy to have the opportunity to open Sobrato High.
“It’s a whole new ball game,” Murphy said. “It will be an exchange of challenges. Although the kids will be more mature – no jumping in mud puddles or those kinds of pranks – that also means they are a little more subdued. Middle school kids are easy to get excited about things, but typically with high schoolers, it’s a ‘go ahead and impress me’ kind of attitude.”
Myers and Sage agreed. They also said it will be a positive change to have the ninth graders in the high school.
“We call them high schoolers here, but they are really treated like middle schoolers,” Murphy added.
Irma Mendez, who also will be exchanging a middle school atmosphere for high school, said she will miss her colleagues, including her husband, at Martin Murphy, but is also hoping to form a close collaborative with the other Sobrato teachers.
“This is a cross section of really talented people,” she said. “I’m looking forward to working with them. I know what an adventure it is to open a school; I helped open Murphy. You have to find ways of connecting, forming bonds, divvying up responsibilities.”
Live Oak math teacher Mary DeBenedetti said she thinks the staff is a nice mix of seasoned teachers and teachers with varying experience levels.
“One of the reasons I wanted to transfer is that I thought my expertise would be valuable in moving the math department forward,” said DeBenedetti, who teaches trigonometry and pre-calculus. “I want to give Sobrato students the best possible math education that they can get. As a veteran teacher, I served as the math department chair from 1999 to 2001. One of the things I would like to do at Sobrato is to expand use of computers and graphic calculators in the classroom.”
Another Live Oak teacher, Christina Filios, said she decided to apply for the transfer to Sobrato because she was interested in the possibility of helping to open a new school.
“This is such an exciting opportunity,” she said. “I’m not sure when I’ll ever get another opportunity to go to a brand new site. And I’m really interested in the idea of working in a smaller-school environment. It makes it easier to work with the staff, as well as the students, and get to know everyone better. We have so many talents on this staff. We should be able to have great communication and develop a great culture.”
These are voluntary transfers – they had to apply – from Britton Middle, Martin Murphy Middle and Live Oak High.
The first Sobrato staff will include Terry Bernard, Mary DeBenedetti, Christine Filios, Jane Flanigan, Vera Gomes, Mary Jane Grover, Matthew Lagunas, Steve Lentz, Mark Masoni, Irma Mendez, Tracy Murphy, Fawn Myers, Beth Pool, Jennifer Rilea, Theresa Sage, Sybil Smit, Sandra Swan, Carmen Villegas, Alicia Vogelaar, Jeanie Wallace, counselor Karen Cyris, librarian Terri Eves-Knudsen, athletic director Dennis Martin and ASB director Marla Carroll.
There could be other teachers hired for Sobrato.
“We hired conservatively, based on what we knew we absolutely needed,” Knapp said. “We know we’ll have more students coming in. And with the change in grad requirements, we’ll need to clean up in our elective area. We’ll probably hire an elective teacher or two.”
The School Board reversed Jan. 12 a decision made before student registration began to make social studies mandatory in 9th grade, so more ninth graders may be taking electives.
There will likely be enough transfers requests for Sobrato slots so involuntary transfers are not necessary, Knapp said Thursday. He said in most subject areas, there were more teachers who applied for positions than there were positions available. But he said there may be the need for one or two involuntary transfers. Once the choice placement time has ended, he said, he will know more about how many more teachers are needed.
Knapp said he is looking forward to working with his new staff.
“I met with half of them on Tuesday and half on Wednesday to discuss furniture and equipment that needs to be ordered, and they’re excited,” Knapp said Thursday. “They’re a talented group that really want to make Sobrato a successful school. They are a highly competent group of teachers who care about kids and want kids to succeed.”
Knapp said he has money from the bond passed to build the school set aside for FF&E, or furniture, fixtures and equipment for the school. He said he has researched extensively the costs of textbooks, furniture and technology for the school. He said he has a $600,000 budget for technology.
The classified staff have not been hired yet. During the Jan. 13 continuation of the Jan. 12 School Board meeting, Barbara Williams of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) accused McKennan of violating the contract by putting specific positions in the board agenda packet that were under consideration for layoff or transfer to Sobrato from Martin Murphy Middle and Britton Middle.
Knapp said discussions are continuing.
“They (classified employees) have to the end of the month to submit applications (for transfer to Sobrato),” he said. “But the selection process is a little different than that for the teachers. They use a merit system.”
There are still openings for PE teachers and coaches, Knapp said.
“There is interest out there,” he said. “Four or five people called about the head football positions, several about the head basketball position. That part of it really comes with the final part of staffing. Our district has always had a strong commitment to hiring coaches from within the staff.”
Sobrato has been accepted into the Tri-County Athletic League of which Live Oak is a membert, said Knapp. Because the school next year will not field varsity teams, the Bulldogs are not on the master schedule.
“We’re having to ferret out our own games this year,” he said. “Within a week and a half, we’ve already lined up four football games. We’re really beating the bushes.”
