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Her classes have increased in size, but she also has one small class. There are now two more classes and a study hall in Leslie’s schedule, but she is liking it.

She loves that everyone has been super welcoming here at the high school, and is happy for the change in scenery.

As for her favorite parts of the high school so far, Leslie focuses on the students.

“[The best part is] seeing all the previous students who have grown up and left me,” said Leslie.

After teaching for six years, Amanda Lieb is happy to be at the high school. Lieb absolutely loves the new school consolidation.

She has been wanting to be at the high school since she started at the middle school, and she enjoys teaching kids closer to adulthood. In the future, she would like to move on to working with college level students, so this change is moving her more in the direction of where she wants to be.

Lieb’s class sizes and number of classes have changed since last school year. At the former middle school, periods ran on a block schedule, which made her have less classes. Now, she went from having around ninety-five students to having about one hundred forty students.

While her schedule may have completely changed, she is still enjoying the high school so far.

For thirteen years, Kathryn Hockenberry has worked at our school district. She worked at Mary A. Wilson for two years, Jenks Hill for four years, and, recently, the middle school for six years.

Her class sizes have not changed, and she still has around the same number of classes. The only major difference is that she is now teaching eighth grade opposed to seventh grade.

“I like how the kids are treated as high school students with more responsibility and freedom,” said Hockenberry. She loves the new school consolidation, and she enjoying the ability to have her previous students in her class again.

Kelli Richardson is now returning to the high school after spending six years at the former middle school. She taught English, in what is now Mr. Dickey’s room, for eight years. When Miss Smith, a teacher at the middle school, retired Richardson saw an opportunity for a change, so she took it.

She was formerly teaching English at the middle school, but she is now teaching reading. Even though her subject has changed, Richardson is thrilled that she is still teaching seventh graders.

“Two different families,” said Richardson, in reference to the new teachers now at the high school and to the teachers who have been here for years. She didn’t have to experience a transitional phase between buildings because she was moving back up to the high school, not for the first time. It helped that she moved with one middle school family up to her previous high school family.

Richardson enjoys that the school is keeping all the new kids together at the same part of the building. It is comforting to the seventh and eighth grades to be around familiar faces. The building is huge and intimidating, but it is benefiting everyone.