It is unusual for one teacher to teach every section of a course, but social studies teacher Jeff Regier is the only teacher for the government classes, which is a senior requirement.
“This hasn’t been the first time I’ve taught the only government class,” Regier said.
Government, a graduation-required class, used to have two teachers
“I know [social studies teacher Rick Hess] used to teach government with me, but sometimes we switch classes to help fill other holes,” Regier said.
Since some teachers have to change around what classes they teach to make sure all classes are covered, Regier adjusts his schedule to accommodate teaching the class.
“First semester my entire schedule was almost entirely government classes,” Regier said. “I got to see a lot of people, and teach them all at the same time.”
Despite the schedule changes, Regier enjoys teaching every government class.
“I like being able to see every senior in my classes,” Regier said. “It means they will have consistent learning for everything.”
Senior Alex Evans sees some positives and negatives of only having one teacher.
“I like how having one teacher allows for the same opportunities and chances of learning,” Evans said. “However, not every student learns the same way, so only having one teacher for the curriculum could cause problems.”
Evans prefers multiple teachers for a class.
“Having it to where I could go to many different teachers for potential help is much better than only one,” Evans said.”Limiting crucial classes to one teacher can potentially kill students’ hope of passing or graduating.”
Principal Rick Rivera makes some decisions about the master schedule for teachers.
“When it comes to scheduling teachers, it’s a big puzzle to make sure every class is filled,” Rivera said. “We can’t just focus on one class, we need to look at the entire need of the school.”
A lot of these scheduling problems are out of Rivera’s control.
“When you look at the size of our school and the size of our staff, it’s a big task to fill all those classes with teachers,” Rivera said. “We only have so many teachers that can teach certain classes.”
However, Rivera does not view only one teacher as a downside.
“Having only one teacher means that every student gets the same curriculum, the same quality of instruction,” Rivera said. “I know every kid’s going to get quality instruction from Mr. Regier.”
