First-year teachers ready for school

Moses Lake hires 28 new staff with four first-year teachers

Aimee Hornberger 8/25/05 Please run before Wed. Aug 31 as that is the first day of school

MOSES LAKE — Jessica Merritt knew she wanted to be a school teacher in the second grade.

Now with a teaching degree from Central Washington University, Merritt's childhood dream will come true when she enters the classroom as a full-time teacher Wednesday at Columbia Basin Secondary School.

"It's still a little daunting," she said of the days leading up to the first day of school.

Merritt is one of 28 new staff members hired in the Moses Lake School District and one of four first-year teachers for the 2005-2006 school year.

The week before school starts, Merritt's classroom walls are still bare, lessons need to be planned and there are the usual first-day jitters.

Everything from making sure students feel safe and welcomed, to meeting with parents — something teachers at CBSS do the first two days of school — weighs heavily on Merritt's mind.

Many students don't have stable home environments and school should be a place where they can get that stability, she said.

Deanna Richardson will start the school year as a first year special education teacher at Peninsula Elementary.

After growing up with twin brothers who had autism, Richardson was always encouraged but never sure about going into the teaching profession.

Experience in the classroom while still a student at Eastern Washington University eventually changed her mind.

"I feel right at home here," Richardson said. "These were kids I was really drawn to."

Before getting anxious about the first day of school, first-year teacher Steve Gallop considers the years of experience he has accumulated from other professions that will now help him in his teaching career.

First, Gallop was a police officer, then a contractor for 25 years, a pastor and now will begin his fourth, and what he says will be his last career, as a second- and third-grade teacher at North Elementary School.

"You ought to try finding all your transcripts," Gallop said jokingly.

From all his widely varying careers, Gallop says what he hopes to offer students this school year is practical application of what they learn in the classroom to things they will experience outside of school.

With six more certified staff for the 2005-2006 school year than the previous year, the district was not able to fill three open positions due to budget constraints.

Those budget constraints arose after $2.5 million increase in fringe benefit costs that prevented the district from hiring any more teachers.

Patty Laughery, human resource manager for the MLSD, said hiring trends for the district for the upcoming school year have been unusually different than previous years.

More veteran teachers were hired for the 2005-2006 school year, a rarity for the district, Laughery said.

In the past, teacher shortages have not been an issue for the district, but finding specialists for special education and speech and language pathologist services has been difficult.

After two years of looking for a speech and language pathologist, the district has hired Lisa Barbre, who grew up in Ephrata and attended Washington State University.

"Not every school district had openings and this is where I wanted to be," Barbre said.