When the first bell of the new school year rings on Aug. 29, 38
teachers will hear its chime for the first time as employees of the
Morgan Hill Unified School District.
When the first bell of the new school year rings on Aug. 29, 38 teachers will hear its chime for the first time as employees of the Morgan Hill Unified School District.
Only three schools out of 13 in the district will not have at least one new face educating students this year. El Toro Elementary, Los Paseos Elementary and San Martin/ Gwinn Elementary will keep their current staffs, but all other schools will soon be home to fresh faces.
One of those new teachers, Howard Barnes, is a Morgan Hill resident and Live Oak High graduate. He’ll be teaching at cross-town rival Sobrato High when it opens for its second year.
“It’s an opportunity to work in my community, to be a part of my community,” Barnes said Thursday. “When Sobrato opened, it really peaked my interest. So I’ve really been planning this for a couple of years.”
Sobrato High leads the pack in number of new teachers added this year with 13. The high school will add a grade this year, educating freshmen through juniors at the school which opened last year.
District officials said many of the other new teachers are Morgan Hill residents who have been teaching at other school districts.
Barnes taught for nine years at Prospect High in Saratoga. He said he was happy teaching there and could have finished his career there, but he wanted to be teaching in Morgan Hill when his two daughters, ages 1 and 3, start school. When Sobrato opened, he saw an opportunity to get a job teaching his specialities of U.S. and world history.
“The junior year, that’s my year, and when Sobrato opened, I knew they’d be adding a junior class this year, so I was looking forward to that,” he said.
Other schools in the district hired teachers over the summer to handle a “bubble” of students in certain grade levels. For example, a fourth grade class could be significantly larger than the previous school year and shifting teachers from another school site may not be an option.
New teachers are often needed to replace retiring educators and those who leave the area for various reasons, officials said. The number of new teachers in Morgan Hill hired for the 2005-2006 school year is not unusual, the district said. In fact, were it not for the 13 new teachers at Sobrato High, the 25 new hires are less than some years.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 Ext. 202 or at md****@*************es.com.
